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Harold J. Finley, an unassuming college professor, develops a device that, once implanted in the brain, can manipulate objects through mind power. Although disregarded as talentless by his family and coworkers, Finley makes an impact with a U.S. space agency in the hopes that he can assist them in retrieving unreachable, space-bound, element-laden asteroids. However, as the professor becomes more familiar with his device, he learns that his subconscious mind has been taking involuntary revenge on those who demean him, including his harping wife, whom he almost kills. As his invention is scheduled to be implanted into the brain of an ambitious astronaut with questionable motives, Finley becomes alarmed, and is determined to stop the procedure. He enters the operating theater just as the surgeon is preparing to implant the device, and destroys him and the head of the asteroid project, along with himself. 

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After arriving at planet Risa, half of the Enterprises crew prepare for shore leave, and Captain Archer organizes lots. Winning a vacation himself, Archer boards a shuttlepod along with Commander Tucker, Lieutenant Reed, and Ensigns Mayweather and Sato. Once the shuttlepod lands on Risa, the crew go their separate ways. Archer notices a beautiful alien woman and her dog on the balcony just below his. Later, he strikes up a conversation, learning her name is Keyla. She claims that the Suliban massacred her entire family. He also learns that she is Tandaran, and when he confronts her with this discovery and asks what she wants, she knocks him out with a shot, and leaves. Meanwhile, Sato is approached by a handsome alien called Ravis, and the two hit it off. She asks him to teach her his complex native language, and he invites her to the exotic steam pools. The next morning, she awakens happy with Ravis in bed beside her. Elsewhere, Tucker and Reed are in a noisy nightclub filled with exotic female aliens. Two women join them for a drink and invite them to view some nearby subterranean gardens, but when they reach the basement underneath the bar, the "females" suddenly morph into male aliens. Tucker and Reed are helpless as the aliens rob them and knock them out. Waking up the next morning, they escape the club in their underwear. Meanwhile, in Sickbay, Doctor Phlox prepares to take his annual six-day hibernation, but he informs Sub-Commander T'Pol that two days should be sufficient. Some time later, Mayweather contacts Enterprise after a rock-climbing accident, and is unnerved by Phlox's absence, but Crewman Cutler reassures him that she can handle his broken leg. He later has some trouble breathing, forcing Cutler and T'Pol to awaken Phlox. Though disoriented and incoherent, he still manages to formulate a suitable antidote, and collapses back into hibernation. On Risa the next morning, the Enterprise crew travel together in the shuttlepod back to their ship, each with an interesting story to tell, but with none willing to divulge any details. 

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University of Wittenberg scholar Faustus earns his doctorate, but his insatiable craving for knowledge and power leads Faustus to try his hand at necromancy in an attempt to conjure Mephistopheles out of hell. Faustus bargains his soul to Lucifer in exchange for 24 living years where Mephistopheles is his slave. Signing the pact in his own blood, Mephistopheles proceeds to reveal to Faustus the works and doings of the Devil. 

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Uncle Fyodor is a very independent city boy, "a boy on his own". After his mother forbids him from keeping his talking cat Matroskin, Uncle Fyodor runs away from home to live on his own. Uncle Fedor and the cat arrive at the village Prostokvashino, where they meet the local dog Sharik. The three settle in an abandoned house. Uncle Fyodor's parents became very agitated at the loss of their son, and even put out a missing persons notice in the paper... Such a notice couldn't pass the nose of the extremely curious postman Pechkin, who right then and there declared his hopes to earn a reward for the boy's safe return — a new bicycle. By the end of the movie, the family is reunited, and the mailman receives his reward for notifying the parents. The parents tell the animals that they are welcome to come back to the city with them, but they decide to stay in Prostokvashino to make a summer house (dacha) for Fyodor. 

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Player characters in the game are genetically enhanced ex-mercenaries who were given superpowers by reverse engineered genetic technology recovered from the UFO crash. They are given extensive genetic modifications (called "boosting"). Then after being decanted they work as augmented mercenaries (called "Boosts") for any one of several private armies operated by giant corporations, fighting in small wars around the world. This is paired with psychological conditioning (the Bushmiller Process) in the form of a Virtual Reality simulation (called "Dreamland") that teaches them how to handle and use their new powers. The virtual world looks just like a "four-color" Silver Age superhero comic book, except it's ultra-violent and merciless to simulate combat conditions and desensitize the recruits to violence. Subjects are made to believe that their fictional life in the virtual world was real, then are later deprogrammed and normalized into accepting mundane reality after their discharge. A Player Character begins as he's discharged from service as a genetically-enhanced warrior who had been conditioned to think of himself as an ultraviolent superhero with a bizarre origin story and a dramatic past. They tend to see the world in the uncompromising black-and-white ethos of superhero comics filtered through the mental illnesses and phobias triggered by the process that grants them their powers. They are dumped in the decaying ruins of an American culture with civilians who fear and hate them and a corrupt and totalitarian government that ignores them (an intentional reference to the state of Vietnam veterans coming home after the Vietnam War). The fact that they were brainwashed by the corporations that employed them and were betrayed by the governments that hired them often makes them distrustful of authority. It is presumed that the player characters join and form various "Underground" movements to oppose the government, giant corporations, or other tyrannical forces in the world. 

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When Rainbow Brite (Bettina Bush) and her magical horse, Starlite (Andre Stojka), go to Earth to start spring, they meet Stormy (Marissa Mendenhall), another magical girl who controls Winter with her horse, Skydancer (Peter Cullen). She, however, does not want to end her winter fun, so Rainbow battles her for control over the season. She proves to be no match for Rainbow and Starlite, who outrun her and head off to Earth. When they arrive, they meet up with Brian (Scott Menville), the only boy on Earth who can "see" them. Once Rainbow tries to start spring, however, her power weakens and Winter remains. Brian becomes worried that Spring will never come and senses that all of humanity is losing hope. Even Rainbow is confused. Reassuring Brian that they will do what they can to return Spring, Rainbow and Starlite return to Rainbowland. Rainbow is paid a visit by On-X (Pat Fraley), a strange robotic horse with rockets for legs. Rainbow takes the mission to find Orin and later learns that Spectra is dimming as the result of a massive net being woven around its surface. The net is being made so that a selfish princess (Rhonda Aldrich), known only as the "Dark Princess", can steal Spectra, "the greatest diamond in all the universe," for herself, and tow it back to her world with her massive spaceship. The native Sprites of Spectra, enslaved by Glitterbots under the princess' control, are being forced to weave the net. Now Rainbow must stop the princess' plan before all life on Earth is frozen solid by an endless Winter. Helping Rainbow and Starlite is Krys (David Mendenhall), a boy from Spectra who believes he can take on the princess and save his home world by himself without the help of a "dumb girl." When they meet Orin, he tries to make them work together to stop the princess. He tells them that they can only destroy her by combining their own powers against her. Getting in the way of their mission is the sinister Murky Dismal (Peter Cullen) and his bumbling assistant, Lurky (Pat Fraley), who, as usual, are lavishing in the new gloom created by the darkening of Spectra, as well as trying to steal Rainbow's magical color belt. After dodging Murky, Rainbow and Krys enter the princess' castle and try to convince her that what she is doing will destroy the universe, but she is determined to have Spectra for herself and traps them instead after she takes Rainbow's belt. They escape the dungeon when Starlite retrieves Rainbow's belt. However, the Dark Princess, now enraged, uses her powerful crystal to create a vortex to send Rainbow, Krys, Starlite and On-X to a prison planet. Rainbow meets Orin there who explains that Krys and Rainbow must destroy the Princess' crystal—as that is the source of her powers. They find an unguarded entrance to the palace and find the Princess in her throne room. In the midst of a duel with the Princess, Murky and Lurky crash their ship into the throne room. This distracts the Princess long enough for Rainbow and Krys to destroy her power crystal. The defeated Princess runs to her spaceship with the intention of crashing into Spectra to destroy it, however Rainbow uses her rainbow to deflect the spacecraft away from the diamond planet, prompting it to explode. The enslaved Sprites are freed and immediately destroy the net so that Spectra radiates its magical light once again. On Earth, a warm spring finally arrives as life returns there and Rainbow returns to Rainbowland, finding her friends are back to normal. 

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The play begins at the altar of Zeus at Athens (N.B. Not Marathon, as generally assumed). The herald Copreus, in the employ of King Eurystheus of Mycenae, attempts to seize the children of Heracles, together with Heracles's old friend, Iolaus. When King Demophon, son of Theseus, insists that Iolaus and Heracles's children are under his protection, Copreus threatens to return with an army. Demophon is prepared to protect the children even at the cost of fighting a war against Eurystheus, but after consulting the oracles, he learns that the Athenians will be victorious only if they sacrifice a maiden of noble birth to Persephone. Demophon tells Iolaus that as much as he would like to help, he will not sacrifice his own child or force any of the Athenians to do so. Iolaus, realizing that he and the children will have to leave Athens and seek refuge elsewhere, despairs. When Macaria, a daughter of Heracles, hears about the oracle's pronouncement and realizes her family's predicament, she offers herself as the victim, refusing a lottery. Bidding farewell to her siblings and to Iolaus, she leaves to be sacrificed. At the same time, Hyllus arrives with reinforcements. Although Iolaus is old and feeble, he insists on going out to the battle. Once there, he miraculously regains his youth and captures Eurystheus. A debate about executing him follows. Alcmene, Heracles's aged mother, insists that Eurystheus be executed at once, though such an execution is against Athenian law. Finally, Eurystheus tells them a prophecy of how his spirit will protect the city from the descendants of Heracles's children if they slay and bury him, and so it is done. 

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Kept in a special school run on devout Christian lines, at age 18 Ned is free to leave. His mission in life is to find and kill his rogue father Henry. On visiting his mother Fay, who is serving a life sentence for terrorism, she cannot tell him her husband's whereabouts and suggests he contacts her brother Simon, who is a writer in New York. Also anxious to see Simon is a penniless postgraduate named Susan, who wants to write about his work. Learning that his father was last heard of working in Seattle, Ned rushes off to the airport. Susan follows him, because she has her own reasons for wanting to find Henry, and Ned reluctantly teams up with her, though he keeps refusing a romance with her. In Seattle, he learns that his father has lost his mind and is being kept in a special clinic. In fact, Henry shams madness in order to enjoy a quiet life among good books (as Fay does too, though not by choice). Ned abducts his willing father, planning to shoot him in open country, but discovers that Susan has found his revolver and removed its ammunition. She then makes off with Ned's father, money, and gun. Reaching a motel near Spokane, she reveals that she was the 13-year-old girl whose parents burst in just as she had lured Henry to her bed. For that, he got seven years. Now they can carry on legally and their night of passion disturbs the whole motel. Ned meanwhile has traced the pair and in the morning is waiting outside for them to emerge. Susan, having completed her unfinished business with Henry, shoots him dead. Ned bursts in, and in a struggle with Susan accidentally stabs her to death. Outside, armed police are waiting for him. 

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An American freighter ship carrying sensitive cargo en route to Taiwan is hijacked by North Korean pirates led by Sin (Jang Dong-gun), a terrorist set on destroying the Korean Peninsula. The sensitive cargo is weapons technology for a military satellite, secretly made by the U.S. in reaction to strengthening Chinese/Russian relations. Having stolen the technology, Sin attempts to attain nuclear grade radioactive waste from Russia through the black market. His plan is to detonate a fleet of helium balloons loaded with radioactive waste over the Korean Peninsula. To investigate the hijacking, the South Korean government sends Sejong (Lee Jung-jae), a South Korean Naval Intelligence Service officer, to meet a black market contact in Thailand who knows about the hijacking. Sejong's meeting with the contact goes sour but he learns about Sin and tracks his location in the Russian district of Busan, South Korea. In Busan, Sin meets with Russian mob members who take him to a political seminar, where he stabs Park Wan-sik, the South Korean counsel general in New York, in the men's bathroom. In a flashback that Park was partly responsible for the death and murder of Sin's family. Sin's family were North Korean refugees who requested embassy in South Korea. At the time, the South Korean government was trying to strengthen relations with China and they were forced to reject the family's request. Park Wansik was sent by the South Korean government in order to make arrangements for the family's disposal. The family ended up being killed by North Korean authorities. The only survivors were Sin and his older sister (Lee Mi-yeon), who managed to escape but where stranded in the wilderness between the borders of North Korea and China. After enduring hardship, starvation, and rape, they managed to cross over to a train station in China where the two were tragically separated. Sin goes down his own path and lives the life of a criminal and a modern-day pirate in South East Asia, where his bitterness and hatred grows, and he plots revenge against his betrayers. His anger expands and he decides to destroy the entire Korean Peninsula. Sin is embittered towards the North Korean government for the murder of his family and at the South Korean government for abandoning them. He decides to hatch a plan to unleash nuclear grade uranium onto the clouds of a typhoon so that radioactive rain will shower onto the Korean Peninsula, effectively destroying it. He sets out with his group of South East Asian pirates, but he encounters Sejong. In an attempt to lure Sin into their hands, Sejong sets up an appointment for Sin to reunite with his sister. Sin, who had assumed his sister to be dead, believes it to be a farce to lure him out, but he goes anyway. Sin takes the bait and enters the meeting, but Sejong soon discovers that Sin and his sister are more prepared than he had thought. Sin has a sniper set up, who effectively takes out part of Sejong's elite team, though Sin's sister is caught in the crossfire and suffers a bullet wound. After escaping, Sin sets out to execute his plans of mass destruction. He embarks on a freight carrier that he names "Typhoon" that is filled with balloons carrying canisters filled with uranium. Meanwhile, in a last-ditch effort to save the Korean Peninsula, Sejong gathers a South Korean UDT/SEAL team, and helicopters out to sea. He makes a point of picking single men, stating that death is likely. They fly through the impending typhoon to the freight carrier, encountering Sin and his pirates. There is a bloody skirmish and both sides suffer casualties. Sin is in the lower cabins through most of the fighting, spending time with his sister during her last breaths. The bullet wound is too much and she is about to die. They agree to meet again in the afterlife. Dazed, Sin heads out after she dies and he begins to release his uranium balloons. Having to manually open the hatch to release them, he is able to crank it open a few feet, allowing a few balloons to escape. Before he can activate the balloons with his remote control, Sejong makes his appearance. He is the last man standing, except for Sin, and all the rest of the Special Forces soldiers and Pirates are dead. Sin and Sejong struggle in a fight to the death, which culminates in Sin's death. In his last sentiments, Sejong sends a letter to his mother. He believes that in the end, Sin never intended to destroy Korea and that he was just a desperate man who was a product of a tragedy. He is regretful of Sin's death, and says he wouldn't have minded befriending Sin in another life. Sin then carries his sister onto a boat to cross the river of the dead, and they cross over into the afterlife together. 

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The narrator, V., is absorbed in the composition of his first literary work, a biography of his half-brother, the Russian-born English novelist Sebastian Knight (1899–1936). In the course of his quest he tracks down Sebastian's contemporaries at Cambridge and interviews other friends and acquaintances. In the course of his work V. also surveys Sebastian's books (see below) and attempts to refute the views of the "misleading" The Tragedy of Sebastian Knight, a biography by Knight's former secretary Mr. Goodman, who maintains that Knight was too aloof and cut off from real life. V. concludes that, after a long-running romantic relationship with Clare Bishop, Sebastian's final years were embittered by a love affair with another woman — a Russian whom he presumably met at a hotel in Blauberg, where Sebastian spent time recuperating from a heart ailments in June 1929. V. leaves for Blauberg, where, with the help of a private detective, he acquires a list of the names of four women who were staying at the hotel at the same time as Sebastian and tracks down each to interview them. After dismissing the possibility of Helene Grinstein in Berlin, his search leads him to Paris and the list narrows to two candidates: Mme de Rechnoy and Mme von Graun. V. first suspects Mme de Rechnoy of being the mystery woman, based on a compelling description from her ex-husband, Pahl Palich Rechnoy. Mme de Rechnoy has left her husband and cannot be located, leaving V. unsatisfied. However, after meeting Mme von Graun's friend, Mme Nina Lecerf, and hearing stories of von Graun's unflattering affair with a Russian, V. becomes convinced that Helene von Graun is the woman in question. Nina invites V. to visit her in the country, where Helene von Graun will be staying with her. Finding that Helene has not yet arrived, V. mentions to Nina a letter introducing himself to Mme von Graun, which angers her. By chance, V. learns that it is Nina Lecerf herself, and not Helene, who was Sebastian's final romance. Nina was, in fact, the Mme de Rechnoy whom V. had originally suspected but never met. The final chapters of the narration deal with The Doubtful Asphodel, Sebastian's final novel, which is centered on a dying man and his slow decay. V.'s description of the novel reveals similarities and coincidence not only with Sebastian's life, but with V.'s own investigative adventures. V. tries to account for Sebastian's final years, including a last letter from Sebastian asking V. to visit him at a hospital outside Paris. As V. makes the trip (from Marseilles, where he is temporarily stationed by his firm), his ties to his own life become increasingly visible for their tenuousness: his employer hampers his ability to travel, he struggles to remember necessary details such as the hospital name, he even lacks sufficient money to travel efficiently. V. finally arrives at the hospital and listens to his sleeping brother's breathing from a separate room, only to discover that the sleeping man is not his brother, but another man. Sebastian Knight had died the night before. The novel concludes with a philosophical reconciliation of Sebastian's life and a final implication that V. himself is Sebastian Knight, or at least his incarnation. 

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Titanic opens in the Titanic's dining room, where the Tammurais (Richard, Victoria, and their son Teddy) are seated. Pondering why they haven't been seated at the captain's table, Richard suggests that the "snub" may be a result of Victoria's less-than-noble past growing up on a pig farm in Indiana. Victoria in turn announces that she wants a divorce and further reveals that Teddy is not Richard's natural son, which prompts Richard to claim that their unseen daughter Annabella is not Victoria's natural daughter. From here, there is a comedic blur between three characters: Annabella, Harriet Lindsey, and Lidia, the latter of whom is confusingly (but amusingly) the captain's daughter...or is she? With Victoria and Richard at odds, Lidia—who keeps and feeds a variety of animals in her vagina—befriends Teddy and coerces him into non-consensual bondage scenarios. Meanwhile, Victoria begins a lurid affair with the passionate captain while Richard ravenously pursues and humiliates Higgins, a young sailor. On several occasions, it appears that the vessel has struck that fabled iceberg and is sinking (a fate Annabella, Harriet/Lidia desperately desires), but the sounds of catastrophe are always followed by an announcement that it was merely the captain's wife broadcasting from a sound effects record—a practical joke that ultimately prompts the captain to execute his wife. Following her funeral, the characters decide a wedding is in order—Victoria will marry Annabella/Harriet Lindsey, and Richard will marry Teddy (who he has by now begun to call Dorothy). In the final scene, we return to the Titanic's dining room where Teddy and Annabella/Harriet/Lidia exact deadly revenge on Richard and Victoria, just before it appears once more that the ship has struck an iceberg...but has it? 

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Mr. Burns almost drowns while taking a bath after Smithers puts a sponge on his head, weighing down his puny body. Realizing that no one will carry on his legacy when he dies, Mr. Burns decides to find an heir to inherit his vast fortune. After years of devotion, Smithers thinks he should inherit his wealth. Burns believes he will receive a "far greater reward" by being buried alive with his boss. Burns auditions several boys for his heir, including Nelson, Martin, and Milhouse. Bart and Lisa also audition and fail: Burns disqualifies Lisa because she is a girl and Bart because he dislikes the poorly worded proposal Homer makes him read aloud, which isn’t helped by Homer misspelling “Burns” as “Curns”. After the audition ends with Burns kicking him in the butt with a mechanical boot, much to Homer’s amusement, Bart gets revenge by vandalizing his mansion. Burns is impressed by Bart's malevolence and accepts him as his heir, although he initially liked Nelson for a similar reason. Homer and Marge sign a legal document that officially names Bart as Burns' heir. Marge suggests that Bart spend time with the lonely old man because he stands to inherit his fortune. Initially repelled by Burns' coldness, Bart warms to him after he promises to give him anything he wants. Soon Bart abandons his family because Burns allows him to do whatever he likes. Bart's parents sue to get their son back, but after they hire Lionel Hutz as their lawyer, the court decides that Burns is "clearly the boy's biological father." The Simpsons hire a deprogrammer to kidnap Bart, but he abducts Hans Moleman by mistake and brainwashes him into thinking he is the Simpsons' son. When Bart grows lonely and wants to go home, Burns tricks him into thinking his family no longer loves him by staging a fake video with actors portraying the Simpsons. Bart decides that Burns is his true father and they celebrate by randomly firing Springfield Nuclear Power Plant employees by dropping them through a trapdoor. Lenny is the first employee to suffer this fate. When Homer enters the office, Burns tries to completely sever Bart's family ties by forcing him to fire his father. Instead Bart "fires" Burns by dropping him through the trapdoor. Smithers quickly jumps into the shaft and implores his boss to "land on Leonard's carcass" to cushion his fall. Bart moves home after realizing that he loves his family. 

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At a Catholic school in 2050, a troublesome boy named Roger (Ben Savage) is running away after threatening to blow up the gym due to not being allowed to play on the basketball team – though he was accepted onto the team, his parents have strictly forbidden contact sports. He is stopped by Father Clifford Daniels (Martin Short), an old priest, who tries to persuade him to change his ways by telling him a story of his own youth, stating that "when we get frustrated, it can cause a lot of damage". In the flashback, 10-year-old Clifford is an obnoxious and eccentric boy who never lets go of a toy dinosaur named Steffen, whom he talks to and blames for Clifford's own actions. His dream is to visit Dinosaur World, a theme park in California, but he is never considered, especially by his workaholic parents Julian (Richard Kind) and Theodora (Jennifer Savidge). While flying with his parents to Honolulu on a business trip, Clifford intentionally causes the pilot to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles. Because Clifford is henceforth banned from flying, Julian scolds him as he can't attend the appointment but also can't abandon Clifford in the city without risking child abandonment charges. He phones his brother, Martin (Charles Grodin) — who resides in the city — to suggest that Clifford stay with him temporarily. While Clifford sees this as his opportunity to finally visit Dinosaur World, Martin thinks that this is the perfect opportunity to prove to his fiancée, Sarah Davis (Mary Steenburgen), how well he interacts with children. However, he has not seen Clifford since his baptism, and thus is completely unaware of Clifford's potential for hazardous antics. Upon their reunion, Martin reveals to Clifford that he designed Larry the Scary Rex (a Dinosaur World attraction) and can get into the park free of charge, which only strengthens Clifford's obsession to visit. Martin promises to take him there, but is ultimately forced to break his promise the next day as his work requires that he redesign LA's public transit system - one of Martin's biggest dreams - in two days. Clifford even attempts to sneak away by posing as someone else's son, in a dinosaur costume, but he's caught by Martin. Disappointed, Martin tells Clifford that the Dinosaur World trip is off and sends him up to his room to think about everything he has done. Clifford becomes enraged at Martin breaking his promise (especially after he discovers that while Martin can't spare time to take him to Dinosaur World, he can spare time for Sarah's parents' 35th wedding anniversary party), and thus starts working to sabotage Martin's life, jeopardizing his career and even his relationship with Sarah in the process. He compliments Martin's boss, Gerald Ellis (Dabney Coleman), on his toupee, humiliates Martin at the party by replacing his Bloody Mary drink with straight Tabasco sauce, ruining an unprepared toast that Martin is giving, and even switches his cocoa butter with lipstick, making a comedic scene. Clifford finally gets Martin arrested in front of Sarah's family after calling in a fake bomb threat in city hall, made out of mixing audios of Martin's scolding of Clifford with his answering machine. As he's released on bail, Martin scolds Clifford again, but tries reasoning with him, trying to share Martin's own experiences of being denied his own visit to an old theme park before it was ultimately demolished. He tries getting Clifford to write a confession of the bomb incident, but Clifford misleads Martin in catching a train to San Francisco, where Sarah travels per Mr. Ellis' request (later revealed as an attempt by Ellis to try moving in on her), and Martin can't find him before the train departs. Smiling and back at Martin's home, Clifford throws a juvenile party in exchange for his trip to Dinosaur World. Martin gradually perceives Clifford as a threat, and when he returns home, he traps Clifford (who tries making a scene by pretending he's tied up) by boarding doors and windows. Clifford is released next morning by Sarah, who breaks up with Martin in disgust, taking Clifford with her. As Martin arrives late to Ellis's presentation of Martin's transit system, the Los Angeles city model explodes, costing Martin his job - the last of Clifford's antics. Having had enough, Martin kidnaps Clifford and finally takes him to Dinosaur World after closing hours and makes him ride Larry the Scary Rex. After going through it once, Clifford seems to enjoy himself, so Martin increases the ride's speed repeatedly. When set to hyper speed, the ride malfunctions and Clifford's cart crashes, leaving him dangling above the jaws of the malfunctioning robotic dinosaur. He cries out for Martin to save him, but Martin hesitates — worried about the future of mankind if he saves Clifford and the fact that Clifford has ruined his life. Ultimately, Martin risks his own life and saves him instead. Clifford finally apologizes for his behavior, but Martin doesn't forgive him, telling Clifford he's not human, but a 'destructive thing eventually everyone just gets to hate'. Though it doesn't look like it, Clifford is heartbroken, and decides not to go home with Martin. Back in the future, Father Clifford says that this experience made him turn his life around, telling Roger that "if you destroy everyone in the way of your dreams, you will end up alone, with no dreams at all." Eventually, Martin invited him to his and Sarah's wedding, finally forgiving him after Clifford sent over two hundred letters of apology. Moved by the tale, Roger decides to not run away and instead write hundreds of letters, asking for forgiveness. Father Clifford then takes Steffen from his pocket saying, "Mission accomplished, old friend." 

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The film is a series of vignettes following the daily lives of the Yamada family: Takashi and Matsuko (the father and mother), Shige (Matsuko's mother), Noboru (aged approximately 13, the son), Nonoko (aged approximately 5, the daughter), and Pochi (the family dog). Each of the vignettes is preceded by a title such as "Father as Role Model", "A Family Torn Apart" or "Patriarchal Supremacy Restored". These vignettes cover such issues as losing a child in a department store, the relationships between father and son, or husband and wife, the wisdom of age, getting one's first girlfriend and many more. Each is presented with humour, presenting a very believable picture of family life which crosses cultural boundaries. The relationships between Matsuko, Takashi and Shige are particularly well observed, with Shige giving advice and proverbs to all the family members, and having a great strength of character. Takashi and Matsuko's relationship is often the focus of the episodes, their rivalries, such as arguing about who has control of the television, their frustrations and their difficulties, but the overriding theme is their love for one another despite their flaws, and their desire to be the best parents possible for their children. 

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The series first begin with some realistic and interesting civil cases such as custody battles, divorce settlements, and a case featuring a severed finger. The four lawyers work brilliantly on these cases and at the same time, grows closer to each other. A divorce case brings Homer and Jessica's aunt Angela, another well-known lawyer, heads on as the two defend their own genders in an amusing case of banter. It is revealed the two of them used to be together. Homer, however, now has a wife and throughout the show is frequently seen as easily intimidated by Angela. During a custody battle case, Ching-Ling learns that her mother was not her biological mother. By the time she learned of this, her real mother had died. Furious at being denied the chance to ever meet her real mother, she leaves home and starts living with Jessica instead. Her personal feelings interferes with her case performance, causing her to lose, but the parents were so moved by her words the child was allowed to see both parents. In a case dealing with corporations trying to take more money from their customers, Vincent and Jessica work together and he teaches her to be more confident and sure of herself. When they win the case, Jessica wants to give Vincent a hug, but when he holds out his hands for a high-five instead she accepts it. Ben gets a similar case where his parents are pressured by a company to sign a contract they never wanted, Ben helps them take the case to court. He first intended to play the role of a son and not a lawyer, but after a while could not resist pointing out to the judge several laws that could work to his family's favour. The judge, amused, ends the case in Ben's favour. For a real mystery, the case of the severed finger is given. Vincent and Ben are called up by Homer in the middle of a night to a street, where they find Homer's friend throwing up. All he could say was 'water bottle', and when Ben picks it up, he sees to his horror a severed finger in it. They convince the innocent man not to flee and instead report to the police - headed by none other than Vincent's father. All four lawyers, with help from Homer himself, try to find out more information and in the end, even finds the real culprit. The possible romance is already hinted as it is revealed that Jessica has been in love with Vincent for a while, much to the teasing of Ben. However, due to a series of hilarious misunderstandings, the firm believes that Jessica and Ben are together. Meanwhile, Ben falls for Ching-Ling, but he holds back when it is revealed that she is starting a relationship with Vincent. Vincent figured out Ben harboured feelings for Ching-Ling, but Ben promised not to interfere. Vincent and Ching-Ling seem like the 'ideal' couple, and neither Ben or Jessica was willing to ruin it. Vincent's ambitions and Ching-Ling's sense of justice soon came to a clash when he illegally disturbed the prosecution witnesses in the hopes of winning his own cases. It didn't help that his father and Ben were also involved. Ben's client was accused of murder, but he wasn't responsible because at that time, he was helping smuggle drugs. The sole witness: A police officer who chased him for several streets. The police officer: Vincent's father, who had used the drugs Ben's client threw away to frame a drug dealer. Ben wanted Vincent's father to testify so that his client could be cleared, but Vincent objected. If his father testified and admitted he went against police protocol by framing the dealer, his father could go to jail. In Vincent's eyes, drug smugglers were the scum of society and nowhere as important as a police officers, so he couldn't see why Ben was so intent on helping them. Just as Ben's and Vincent's friendship looked as if it were being placed on its limits, Vincent's father voluntarily confesses everything in court. Ben's client was cleared, but now Vincent's father had to go through the court system. Vincent tried defending his father, but it was a lost case, and Vincent's father was sentenced to jail. The unhappy Vincent then got himself drunk and encountered Ching-Ling at that state. She, however, was disappointed and disgusted with him and his methods, and refused to be with him any longer. In a sick twist, Ben arrived at the scene and witnessed the whole thing. Vincent then accused him of stealing Ching-Ling away, revealing to her that Ben had feelings towards her. Furious at what she thought were false accusations to Vincent's best friend, she leaves with Ben. Later, Vincent asked for a vacation and momentarily leaves the firm. Homer granted it to him, deciding he needed some time to recover from losing both a father and love interest. Ben, in a move showing his deep friendship with Vincent, tells Ching-Ling not to be angry at Vincent for he did harbour feelings for her. However, he knows not to pursue on them, and she accepts this. After a few more cases, Vincent returns. On the surface, he had recovered and was once again friendly towards his co-workers. This quickly turned out to be a front, for now he was using any possible means to win his new cases. This contrasted with his friends, who always tried to help anyone who was wronged. Vincent was now helping those with money, unconcerned whether they were guilty or not. He disappointed everyone, those in the law firm, his father, and his friends. Only Jessica openedly remain supportive of him. Ching-Ling soon starts having feelings for Ben, but the timing could not have been anymore cruel. Ben's friend, who was in jail, had called him due to new evidence. Ben arrived, and it is revealed that one of the reasons Ben became a lawyer was because seven years ago his friend was wrongly prosecuted and sentenced to jail for a crime he did not commit. The inmate told Ben that he heard from one of the other prisoners that a man named 'Saw-Pao' (Literally 'Crazy Leopard') was responsible for the crime he was imprisoned for. The crime was the stabbing of a girl in a park. With Jessica's help, Ben reviews over the case, and sees that the sole witness to the crime was Ching-Ling herself. For appeal grounds, Ben shows how there was evidence of a third party due to blood found on the crime scene that did not belong to anyone identified. Then, he and Jessica track Saw-Pao down and takes some of his blood to be tested for DNA. Ching-Ling knew nothing about this. So when Ben asked to meet her, she thought he was going to ask her whether they could try starting a relationship. When Ben informs her he plans to reopen the case, she is furious and emotionally upset. Her own reason for becoming a lawyer was also because of this case, the cruel murder of her best friend, hence her earlier sensitivity to any cases related to violence against woman. It was obvious that once again, Ben and Ching-Ling were denied a chance to be together. The next time they met was in court. Ben, the defense lawyer, asked Ching-Ling, the witness, why she was so sure the defendant was guilty. She says that he was always following her friend around, but was constantly rejected. Ben pointed out that the crime occurred at night and there were no lights around so she couldn't have seen the face of the culprit. Ching-Ling counters she saw the abnormally large nose and that was enough for her to know who the murderer was. Ben then holds up several photos, all of them completely covered except for their noses. He asks her to identify which nose belonged to the culprit. When she chooses one of pictures, he lifts the cover off to show Saw-Pao's face, and announces to the court Saw-Pao's blood was also found on the crime scene seven years ago. The court and Ching-Ling realized that they had sentenced the wrong person, and Ben's friend was finally released. Following the case's ending, a new one began as Saw-Pao now has to go through court. He hired his own lawyer: Vincent. His friends were dismayed, and tried to tell him not to accept the case. Not only did he refuse to listen to them, but he pursued the case like it was a way of revenge. He questioned Ben's credibility and described gave Ching-Ling a poor impression to the court. Not wanting to sink to his level, Ben tried to look for more evidence, and soon found a driver that could testify Saw-Pao was present on the day of the crime. Ben and Ching-Ling were happy, for the case looked as if it were going to finish quickly and smoothly. What the two didn't expect was Vincent's now cruel cunning. Vincent had figured out Ben's feelings for Ching-Ling earlier, but now he had also figured out Jessica's feelings for him. So he charmed her to tell him Ben's progress with the case, and found out about the driver. He confronted Saw-Pao about it, telling him this can make things unpleasant. Saw- Pao then gives Vincent a cheque and told him to give it to a certain person at a bar. Vincent did as told, not suspecting what the cheque was for. Later, in the middle of a trial, the news was out that the driver had been killed 'in a fire', the trial ended with Saw-Pao walking away free. At last, Jessica gave up on him. She slapped Vincent on the face and yelled at him, telling him he was no more than a dog of Saw-Pao now. Vincent never meant for things to go this far, but it appeared now that not only was everyone in the law firm disappointed in him, they were disgusted with him. Things were only made worst when Saw-Pao cornered Ching-Ling and graphically described how he killed her best friend, tramatizing her. Vincent told him to stop, but Saw-Pao was no friend of his and reminded Vincent that Saw-Pao was practically his only companion now. To seal Vincent's losses, in his next visit to his father he is told how disappointed his father is with him, and tells Vincent that unless he can go back to the right path, don't ever visit him again. Solemn, Vincent wanders out aimlessly and nearly gets hit by a car. Ben pulls him away and when Vincent asks him why, Ben answers that he wouldn't give up hope so easily when it comes to his friends. Now given a spark of hope, Vincent decides to amend for his mistakes, and goes to the bar that he had given the cheque away to. He never met the man again, and instead it is Saw-Pao who greets him. Saw- Pao starts talking of how worthless and incapable Vincent now was. The words deeply affected Vincent is his state, and Saw-Pao decides to go further. He places a gun on the table and tells Vincent to shoot him, and when Vincent hesitated Saw-Pao points out how weak Vincent was. He then talks of how he had some lackeys of his to go kidnap Jessica, the one whom Saw-Pao had figured Vincent cared for. Vincent watched as Saw-Pao picked up his cell phone and started talking about how his lackeys should treat Jessica. Frightened and enraged, Vincent picks up the gun and shoots Saw-Pao in the head - right in front of the bartender. As it turns out, Jessica was not kidnapped or harmed at all, Saw-Pao was simply lying to blackmail Vincent. Yet now that Vincent had killed someone, he has to go to court. He chooses Ben as his defense lawyer, and when the latter asks why Vincent chose him, Vincent tells him he was hoping what Ben said was true - that he wouldn't give up on friends so easily. Ben took the case, and during trial Vincent saw that everyone was present. The trial ended in Vincent's favour, and he was released. The four returned to being friends, but it quickly turned into something more. Ben finally got together with Ching-Ling and the same thing occurred between Vincent and Jessica. 

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In 1979, Deputy Sheriff Jack Lamb of Lillian, Ohio, and his 14-year-old son Joe, mourn the death of wife and mother Elizabeth, who was killed in a workplace accident. Jack blames Elizabeth's co- worker, Louis Dainard, as she was covering his shift because he showed up to work drunk. All Joe has left is a locket that belonged to her. Four months after Elizabeth's funeral, as school lets out for the summer, Joe helps his best friend Charles Kaznyk to make a low-budget zombie movie for a film competition. Charles enlists the further help of fellow friends Preston Scott, Martin Read, and Cary McCarthy, as well as Dainard's daughter, Alice. Though their fathers would be furious, Joe and Alice become close to each other. Charles has them film a scene at a train depot at midnight. During a rehearsal, a train approaches and Charles has them start Super 8 filming as the train passes to add 'production value'. While filming, Joe witnesses a pickup truck drive onto the tracks and ram the train, somehow causing a massive derailment that destroys the train, the depot and the surrounding area, and separates the children from each other amidst the chaos. Joe finds himself near one of the cars, the loading door of which is violently thrown off by an unseen force. Eventually the kids regroup and wander amid the wreckage, finding crates full of strange white cubes, then discover the truck's driver to be Dr. Woodward, their biology teacher. Woodward, barely alive, warns them at gunpoint to forget what they have seen, or they and their families will be killed. The children flee the scene when a convoy from the local Air Force base, led by Col. Nelec, arrives at the scene. Nelec discovers an empty super 8 film box, and assumes the event was deliberately captured on camera. While Joe and Charles wait for their film from the night of the crash to be developed, and keep working with Alice and their friends on the movie, the town experiences strange events: All the dogs run away, several townspeople go missing, the electrical power fluctuates and various electronic items are stolen. Overhearing military communications, Jack approaches Nelec to figure out what he is up to amidst the panic, and if he has some part in it, but Nelec has him arrested. Nelec orders flamethrowers be used to start a wildfire outside the town as an excuse to evacuate people to the base. As soldiers begin the evacuation, Joe and Charles watch the derailment footage and discover that a large creature escaped from the train. Nelec confronts Woodward in a military hospital and offers to free him if he provides information about the alien, but when Woodward rebukes him, Nelec has him murdered. At the base, Alice's father tells Joe the creature has abducted her. Joe, Charles, Martin, and Cary convince Jen, Charles' older sister, to pretend to hit on Donny, a worker from the town camera store, so he can get them into town to rescue Alice. They break into Dr. Woodward's storage trailer and discover films and documents from his time as a government researcher. The film reveals the Air Force captured an alien when it crash-landed in 1958, and ran experiments on it while withholding its ship that is composed of the strange white cubes, allowing it to shape-shift. Woodward was one of the scientists experimenting on the alien. At one point, the alien grabbed Woodward, apparently establishing a form of psychic connection with him. Now understanding the alien, he sought to help it escape from Earth, but Nelec sabotaged his plans and discredited him, leading to Woodward being discharged. He found out about the train, years later, and wanted to help the alien. Nelec captures the boys, but while returning them to the base, the alien attacks their bus. The boys escape as the alien attacks and kills Nelec and the airmen. Meanwhile, Jack escapes from the base's stockade and gets to the shelter housing the townsfolk. Preston tells him about Joe and the boys' plan to rescue Alice. Jack and Dainard agree to put their differences aside to save their kids. In town, the military attempts to kill the alien but their hardware goes haywire in its presence, resulting in significant collateral damage. Martin is injured, so Charles stays behind with him while Joe and Cary head to the cemetery garage, where Joe had earlier seen something suspicious. They find a massive tunnel system under the town, with a cavern where the alien is creating a device from the town's stolen electronics, attached to the base of the town's water tower. The alien also has the people it had captured, including Alice, hanging unconscious from the ceiling, to use them as food. Using Cary's firecrackers as a distraction, Joe frees Alice and the others, but the three kids are trapped. Understanding the alien's condition, Joe steps forward. The alien grabs Joe, who quietly speaks to it, telling the alien "bad things happen" but that it "can still live". The alien releases him and departs, allowing the three to return to the surface. As Joe and Alice reunite with their fathers, along with Cary, they and the military all watch as various metal objects from all over the town are pulled up to the top of the water tower by an unknown force. The white cubes are also pulled in to reassemble the alien's spaceship, using the tower as its base. The alien enters the spaceship and the locket is then drawn from Joe's pocket toward the tower. After a moment, he lets it go, completing the ship. As the ship rockets into space, Joe takes Alice's hand. The detective-zombie short film the children were making in Super 8 rolls runs at the end of the movie beside the credit roll. Charles asks for his short film "The Case" to be picked for an international film festival before being attacked by Alice as a zombie. 

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A 17-year- old Manhattan student, Lisa Cohen, shopping on the Upper West Side, interacts with bus driver Gerald Maretti as she runs alongside his moving bus; he allows himself to become distracted, leading to a fatal accident by missing a red light, in which a pedestrian, Monica Patterson, is hit by the bus and subsequently dies in Lisa's arms. Initially, Lisa reports to the police that the driver had a green traffic signal, but later, out of remorse, changes her story. She confronts Maretti, who first pretends to have forgotten the details of the accident, and then reveals to her in anger that he does remember them, but believes he did nothing wrong, causing Lisa to pursue his firing from the company with passion. In collaboration with Monica's best friend, Emily, and cousin, Abigail, Lisa ultimately becomes involved in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transit Authority, seeking the dismissal of the driver (who is revealed to have caused two previous accidents), as well as monetary damages, which would be awarded to Abigail as the victim's next of kin. Meanwhile, Lisa's life takes various turns, including a flirtation with her math teacher, Aaron Caije, her decision to lose her virginity to a classmate, Paul Hirsch, and various vehement debates with classmates about politics and terrorism. Lisa and her actress mother have a rocky relationship, with sporadic fighting and Lisa expressing ambivalence toward her mother's boyfriend Ramon. An after-show dinner, attended by Lisa, her mother, Emily and Ramon, ends with Ramon making a remark perceived as anti-Semitic toward Emily. Ramon dies of a heart attack not long after. Lisa has sex with Caije, then later confronts Caije, telling him, in the presence of another teacher, that she has had an abortion. She expresses doubt about who the father was and mentions that there are several possibilities. The lawsuit reaches a conclusion, with an award of $350,000, but the MTA refuses to fire Maretti, out of concern that it would inflame a labor dispute. Abigail claims the settlement offer, revealing the monetary settlement to have been her primary motivation; this causes Lisa to become very upset and disillusioned with the outcome of the case. Lisa and her mother plan to attend an opera that Ramon and she were to see before his death. On the way, Lisa sees Maretti driving the same bus that had killed the pedestrian and there is a brief moment where the two see each other. During the opera performance, Lisa's accumulated emotion from the sequence of events bursts out and she and her mother affectionately reconnect, crying together and holding each other as the opera goes on. 

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With the exception of the opening and final scenes, which depict the 1941 suicide by drowning of Virginia Woolf in the River Ouse, the film takes place within the span of a single day in three different decades and alternates between them following three women: Virginia Woolf in 1923, Laura Brown in 1951, and Clarissa Vaughan in 2001. The following plot summary has been simplified and is in chronological order, not the order as presented in the film. 

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Emmett Foley is an American hero of the Korean War who attempts to commit suicide, first by provoking local police and then by shooting himself in the chest. After his recovery, he is sent to the Florida State Hospital, an institution in Chattahoochee, Florida, where he fights against doctors and staff who are terrorizing and torturing their patients. His efforts eventually led to sweeping reforms in the Florida mental health system. 

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The Axis aim of total world conquest, as shown in Prelude to War. In an edit added to the film before public release, a comment by Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War at the time, was quoted to create trust with the audience, "the purpose of these films is to give factual information as to the causes, the events leading up to our entry into the war and the principles for which we are fighting." Prelude to War depicts the Nazi propaganda machine. The purpose of the OWI was to use mass communication to appeal to both serving soldiers and later, the American population on the reasons for the war; therefore, they released Prelude to War to further these goals.Kurash, J. "A Prelude to War" (1 March 2009). Retrieved from http://www.army.mil The film commences with an explanation of how Americans were brought into the war through heroic motives to protect countries unable to protect themselves. The film expresses the view that America had this duty to righteousness and Christian values throughout history, according to the values and beliefs set forth by the founding fathers.Wilkins, J.N. America’s Christian Foundation German, Kathleen. "Frank Capra's Why We Fight Series and the American Audience." Western Journal of Speech Communication 54. (1990): 237–248. The documentary makes use of compare and contrast methods throughout the film in order to transmit its heroic message. The primary images used within the film to portray the opponents of America are introduced by Henry Wallace as the "free world" — a brightly illuminated planet of the Allies, and a "slave world" as a planet deep in shadow of the Axis Powers. It examines the differences between the U.S. and the fascist states of Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler and Yamamoto, portraying the latter countries working together as gangsters to conquer the world. In order to do this, Capra made use of footage from Triumph of the Will, but with different narration designed to support the Allied cause. It is brought to the audience's attention that after the Nazis smashed the opposing political parties and labor unions they turned their attention to their last remaining obstacle — the church. In one scene a stained glass window is shattered by several bricks to reveal a "Heil Hitler!" poster behind. To emphasize this depiction of Hitler as an antichrist figure, a class of German schoolchildren is shown singing to the song Frederick Rex: > Adolf Hitler is our Saviour, our hero > He is the noblest being in the whole wide world. > For Hitler we live, > For Hitler we die. > Our Hitler is our Lord > Who rules a brave new world. 

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"In a universe that had been ravaged by a thousand years of interplanetary warfare between the star-shattering Romaghins and the equally voracious Setessins, there seemed now but one thing that might bring the destruction to an end. That would be the right catalyst in the hands of the right people. The right catalyst could well be the individualist rebel, Tohm... he who had once been a simple peasant and who had been forcibly changed into a fearfully armored instrument of mechanical warfare—the man-tank Jumbo Ten. But the right people? Could they possibly be the hated driftwood of biological warfare—those monsters of a cosmic no-man's land—the Muties?" 

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The history of the Butcher, who is given no other name, is narrated through voice-over and a montage of still photographs. Orphaned at a young age, he was sexually abused by a priest. As a teenager, unable to have the opportunity to study and learn a profession of his choice, he reluctantly embraces the career of butcher specializing in horse meat, a profession already frowned upon at the time in France. After several years of hard work, he finally opens his own horse meat butcher shop and his girlfriend gives birth to a daughter. When the woman realizes the infant is not a boy, she leaves the young father alone with the child. Embracing it as fate, the Butcher decides to take care of his daughter alone. As loneliness grows on the single father, he becomes overprotective and develops incestuous feelings for his child. When he sees blood on her skirt, he stabs the man who he thinks raped his daughter. He later understands that the stains were only menstrual blood. He is sentenced to prison and forced to sell his shop to a Muslim butcher and his troubled daughter is sent to an institution. In prison, the Butcher has sex with a cellmate. Upon his release, he vows to forget it all happened. He finds a job working as a bartender for the woman who owns the tavern where he was a regular customer. They begin dating and soon she becomes pregnant. As they start making plans for their future together, she sells her business and they move to northern France, where she said she would buy a butcher shop for him. There, she backs out of her promise. He has to take a night watchman job at a nursing home, where he meets a young and caring nurse who is the complete opposite of his ageing, uncaring mistress. After he and the nurse witness the death of an elderly patient, the Butcher thinks back about the lack of affection throughout his life, from the orphanage to a life with an uncaring mistress who abuses the power she has over him because of her money. When his mistress unjustly accuses him of having an affair with the nurse, he snaps and punches her in the belly several times, very likely killing their unborn child, then steals a pistol and flees. He decides to return to Paris, where he rents the same flophouse room where he conceived his daughter, and begins looking for a job as a horse meat butcher. But the customers' taste changed during his time in prison, provoking a collapse of the horse meat market. Despite his patience, his job interviews consistently end up with rejection. He broadens his job search but in general butchery he is considered an unskilled worker. He has to start all over again at the bottom. He starts looking outside his branch, but the more he broadens his searches, the more humiliating the job interviews become. He remains polite, but the more desperate he becomes, the more quickly he is rejected by managers. When he turns to his old friends for advice, they all reject him. After being turned away at a slaughterhouse that once did business with his shop, the Butcher decides to kill the slaughterhouse manager. He plots the murder at a local tavern, but is ejected from the bar at gunpoint after squabbling with the owner's son. The Butcher finds that he has only three bullets in his gun, and begins assigning them to the men he feels have humiliated him the most. More and more isolated, he decides to look for the only person he feels has ever loved him: his daughter. After meeting her at the asylum in which she is a patient, he takes her back to his room where he is prey to opposite feelings towards her. As he is about to lose his sanity, he contemplates having sex with his daughter before killing her. After the representation of this fantasy, the movie returns to the moment of the Butcher's hesitation. He decides to put the gun away, resolving to be good, and tearfully embraces his daughter. But he starts again to contemplate having sex with her in the same manner he did with her mother. Standing at a window, he unzips his daughter's jacket and begins fondling her. As he starts to abuse his daughter, the Butcher, between more and more incoherent thoughts, tries to justify his act by asserting that the world condemns his love for his daughter only because it is too powerful. 

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The film follows the exploits of film actor Jack Noah (Dreyfuss), who is filming in the small, fictional South American country of Parador when Paradorian President Alfonse Simms, a dictator, invites him and the cast and crew to the film at their palace. Simms seems delighted at Jack's imitation of him. Suddenly, Alfonse Simms dies of a heart attack. Not wanting to lose his position in power, the president's right-hand man, Roberto Strausmann (Juliá) forces Jack to take the 'role of a lifetime' - that of the dead president, as the two men look so much alike. Jack accepts, eventually winning over the people and even the dead president's mistress, Madonna (Braga). For over a year, the two bond, and she shows Jack how the people are suffering under the dictatorship, particularly at the iron hand of Roberto (the real power behind scene) against the rebels. Jack creates a plan where, in the middle of a show featuring Sammy Davis Jr, he (as Simms) is apparently gunned down by an assassin. Before dying, "Simms" accuses Roberto as the true enemy, leading to his death at the hands of the crowd. Inside a van, Jack escapes. Months later, he is telling the story to his friends, who do not believe him. Jack is happy to learn that Madonna led a revolution and is now the elected president of Parador. 

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John Henry "Jack" Armstrong (Anthony Mackie) is a financially successful and upwardly mobile executive at a biotechnology firm who, following the suicide of a colleague, Dr. Herman Schiller, is falsely accused of securities fraud by his superior, Leland Powell (Woody Harrelson). Armstrong's assets are frozen, and he finds himself unable to maintain his quality of life. In order to make ends meet, he becomes a sperm donor, initially by acquiescing to the desires of Fatima Goodrich (Kerry Washington), his ex-fiancée who came out as a lesbian and now wants a child. Although there is still unresolved bitterness and tension between them over Armstrong and Goodrich's prior relationship (as before coming out, Armstrong discovered her cheating on him with another woman, who she was having sex with), she and her girlfriend, Alex Guerrero (Dania Ramirez), offer him a substantial sum of money to impregnate them both. This leads to Goodrich goading Armstrong into establishing a business in which groups of lesbians come over to his house and pay him $10,000 each to have sex with them in order to become pregnant. This business becomes a success, along with many of the women enjoying the intercourse with him. One of the women whom Armstrong impregnates is the daughter of a mafia boss, Don Angelo Bonasera (played by John Turturro). Armstrong's employers learn of his impregnation business, and they use it in their campaign to sully his image in order to deflect attention from their own criminal business activities. Conflict is also depicted in the turbulent relationship between Armstrong's mother and his dependent diabetic father (Jim Brown). At the film's climax, Armstrong's situation is portrayed as a cause célèbre, with protests being held in support of or against him, and the news media interviewing people on the street with respect to his sexual activities. Armstrong is called before a committee of the United States Senate investigating his alleged securities fraud, where both his services to lesbians and his relationship to the "Bonasera crime family" are raised. Armstrong's situation is compared, both by cutaway scenes and by direct reference in dialogue, to the plight of Frank Wills, the security guard who discovered the break-in that led to the Watergate scandal, which brought down President Nixon. He eventually wins the case and is seen with nineteen of the children he helped his lesbian acquaintances make at the end. By the end of the film, Armstrong and Goodrich have come to terms with their lingering feelings for one another, and with the mutual attraction they share for Guerrero. They then begin a three-way polyamorous relationship, and Armstrong apparently maintains a friendship with all of the eighteen women who became pregnant by him. 

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Fresh out of pharmacy school, young Eddy Duchin travels to New York in the 1920s to take a job playing piano for bandleader Leo Reisman's orchestra. But upon arrival, Eddy learns there is no such job. A wealthy socialite, Marjorie Oelrichs, overhears his playing and takes a personal interest in Eddy. When he is invited to the home of her wealthy aunt and uncle, the Wadsworths, for a party, Eddy is disappointed to discover that he has been asked there merely to entertain. Having fallen in love, Marjorie goes so far as to propose marriage to Eddy rather than the other way around. She has secret fears that she expresses on their wedding night, and tragedy strikes when Marjorie dies giving birth to their child. An anguished Eddy abandons his baby boy, Peter, leaving him in the Wadsworths' care, and goes away from New York for many years. He serves on a warship in the war. Finally persuaded to visit his son, he meets Peter's governess, a British woman named Chiquita, who grows on him after an uneasy start. Peter is learning to play the piano. Eddy has an engagement at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, but his hand freezes while at the keyboard. He eventually is diagnosed with a fatal illness and has no more than a year to live. After he marries Chiquita, he can't bring himself to tell Peter about his illness, so he simply says that soon he'll be "going away." Peter ultimately learns the truth. 

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Largely an autobiographical tale, the novel revolves around Timothy "Dildo" Dunphy, a ne'er-do-well from the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which borders Providence. After Dunphy falls in with a bad element at home, his father, a widower, exiles him to the fictional Cornwall Academy (a thin guise for Kent School located near Kent, Connecticut). Over time, Dunphy struggles with issues including class structure, loyalty, first love, and his ongoing issues with his father. Dunphy finds that his fellow prep-school students merely represent a wealthier, more polished class of delinquent than the friends he has left at home. The novel was Farrelly's fledgling effort, and served as his thesis when he graduated from the creative writing program at Columbia University. 

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The book begins with Oscar insulting Ernie's "getup", and Ernie explaining "beneath this stripey shirt, there beats the heart of an artist." Eventually Bert and the Count arrive, as Oscar insults the brightness of Ernie's painting. The Count counters, counting the "lovely colors". Once Prairie Dawn arrives (oddly as a brunette), Bert and Prairie begin suggesting ways how Ernie can improve his painting. Big Bird arrives on a unicycle with Roosevelt Franklin, both thinking there must be a party going on. Despite Prairie's best attempts to get Big Bird to stop. Then, he collides with all of them, hurling Ernie's head through the canvas. Ernie is aghast with horror at the sight of his ripped painting, covered with Roosevelt's ice cream. Oscar arises from his can, wondering what caused the ruckus, only to discover that he now loves Ernie's artwork. Ernie gives the painting to Oscar, titling it The View From Oscar's Trash Can. 

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In the year 2090 AD, the use of time machines (called interkrons) is regulated by officers of the Temporal Corps. There is a strict prohibition against travel into the past, because of its potentially disastrous effects on the timestream and the catastrophic consequences for current civilization. Zeke S. Vettenmyer, a Lieutenant in the Temporal Corps, has stolen an interkron, traveled back into the past, and subtly altered historical situations so that the outcomes of these events will be changed. The world as we know it will be destroyed as the effects of these changes ripple forward towards the present and cause massive disruptions in the timestream. You are a private in the Temporal Corps. You have been selected to travel into the past and untangle Vettenmyer's twisted plot. You must pursue Vettenmyer across 3,000 years of history, going to the times and places that he has visited and reversing the changes that he has made which are currently threatening the future that defines your very existence. 

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Sub-Commander T'Pol receives a covert mission from the Vulcan High Command, and informs Captain Archer that Admiral Forrest will be contacting him later about it. She remains tight lipped despite Archer's enquiries as to the exact nature of the expected diversion, but later meets privately with Archer and asks that he come as well, since she needs someone she trusts. In conversation with Archer, she later reveals that she was trained 17 (Earth) years earlier in reconnaissance retrieval, and now she is to capture the only one of six surgically altered, rogue Vulcan secret agents to have evaded her. Archer, T'Pol, and Ensign Mayweather, easily track the fugitive, Menos, to a cantina on the icy Pernaia Prime moon. After a brief phase-pistol fight, they capture him, but are unable to leave due to a build up of acidic ice. Menos starts to play on T'Pol's sense of fairness and honor. He has a good life, sustaining his family with an honest job, but apparently he is dying. T'Pol, trying to disprove his story, searches for biotoxins in his ship, but is unable to locate any. Meanwhile, back on Enterprise, Commander Tucker finds the continual interruptions of command more than he expected. It gets worse when a Vulcan ship arrives, and he impersonates Archer so as not to let the Vulcans know the Captain is away. T'Pol also relates to Archer that she's been having recent flashbacks to her previous hunt, where she shot another fugitive called Jossen. Because of the Vulcan ramifications on killing, she received "fullara" treatment on P'Jem,planet seen in Ent: "The Andorian Incident" where her memory and emotions of the incident were fully repressed. Back on the planet, Menos organizes an escape by starting a fire, but is recaptured by the away team when his cloaked hiding space is detected, confirming that he was indeed smuggling biotoxins as the Vulcan High Command had indicated. On Enterprise, T'Pol offers her support to Archer should he ever be in need of it. 

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Danny Quinn (Donnie Wahlberg) is a former "street kid" from South Boston, colloquially known as "Southie," who returns home from New York City after three years away. He finds his mother (Anne Meara) overwhelmed with worry as her other three kids are caught up in the madness of the hardscrabble neighborhood in which drinking, sex, and fighting is the way of life. Danny tracks down his brothers only to find out they're deeply embedded in the Irish mob in Boston and in debt to local mobster Colie Powers (Lawrence Tierney). His younger sister Kathy (Rose McGowan), meanwhile, became a barfly in Danny's absence. Danny must get his hands on some quick cash in order to stop his brothers from getting their legs broken and his sister off the streets. In his pursuit to help his ailing mother and right his family's name on the streets of Southie, Danny tracks down his old girlfriend from the neighborhood, Marianne (Amanda Peet), finding that the love he left behind still remains. She tells how she heard about the gunfight he was in with Joey Ward (Jimmy Cummings) and wants to know if that's why he left town. Danny confesses that real reason he left town was that he needed to stop drinking if he were to become the man that she would want him to be. Unable to find legitimate work and banned from union jobs due to a scuffle at a wedding, Danny becomes desperate for money. Two of his old pals know Danny needs money and offer him an opportunity to be a partner in an underground gambling club, though, they neglect to tell Danny that their silent partner is his old nemesis, Joey Ward. It doesn't take long before Danny finds out and he and Joey are face to face. In Danny's absence from the neighborhood, Joey's father Butchie has declared war on Colie Powers and without knowing this Danny finds himself caught up in the middle of their war as it looks like he's in business with the Wards. The mob war eventually comes to Danny's front door, and the stress of an attempted murder in front of his house kills Danny's mother. 

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Illusions revolves around two barnstorming pilots who meet in a field in the Midwestern United States. The two main characters enter into a teacher-student relationship that explains the concept that the world that we inhabit is illusory, as well as the underlying reality behind it: Donald William Shimoda is a messiah who quits his job after deciding that people value the showbiz-like performance of miracles and want to be entertained by those miracles more than to understand the message behind them. He meets Richard, a fellow barn-storming pilot. Both are in the business of providing short rides--for a few dollars each--in vintage biplanes to passengers from farmers' fields they find during their travels. Donald initially captures Richard's attention when a grandfather and granddaughter pair arrive at the makeshift airstrip. Ordinarily it is elders who are cautious and the youngsters who are keen to fly. In this case, however, the grandfather wants to fly but the granddaughter is afraid of flying. Donald explains to the granddaughter that her fear of flying comes from a traumatic experience in a past life, and this calms her fears and she is ready to fly. Observing this greatly intrigues Richard, so Donald begins to pass on his knowledge to him, even teaching Richard to perform "miracles" of his own. The novel features quotes from the Messiah's Handbook, owned by Shimoda, which Richard later takes as his own. An unusual aspect of this handbook is that it has no page numbers. The reason for this, as Shimoda explains to Richard, is that the book will open to the page on which the reader may find guidance or the answers to doubts and questions in his mind. It is not a magical book; Shimoda explains that one can do this with any sort of text. The Messiah's Handbook was released as its own title by Hampton Roads Publishing Company. It mimics the one described in Illusions, with new quotes based on the philosophies in the novel.() () 

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Laurence narrates the story. Though Laurence is intersex and as a child displays normative gender characteristics of both sexes, his unsettled father, Paternus, decides to raise Laurence as a male. Sent away college, he excels in his studies, particularly in writing poetry that inflames the passions of an older widow, Emma. Laurence is not attracted to her and displays asexual tendencies. On the night of his graduation, Emma professes her love for him. When informed that Laurence is intersex, she goes into a deep state of shock and soon dies. Laurence reacts with great emotion and returns home to his cold father. Paternus now displays how Laurence's condition repulses him and expresses his regret that Laurence will never father a male heir. He offers Laurence his inheritance in a premature bulk sum, if he will agree to allow Paternus to disown him. Laurence vehemently rejects the offer, instead offering the money to his younger (and gender-neutral) brother, Phil, in the hope that his brother will share the estate with him upon their father's death. At one point Laurence hears two men compare him to the "lovely hermaphrodite" in the sculpture collection of the Villa Borghese, the Sleeping Hermaphroditus. Laurence (also called Laurent) lives most of his life as a man and then spends a period living as a woman. Both men and women fall in love with him and he responds to both. He explains how he has chosen to favor men or women: "When I wished to trifle, I preferred the latter. When I wished to reason gravely, I chose the former." At the end of the story the secret is discovered, and some friends discuss the nature of Laurence's sexuality. Their observations are reflective of nineteenth-century views of gender. A male friend Berto observes, "I recognize nothing distinctly feminine in the intellectual nature of Laurent, ... he is sometimes poetical and rhapsodical, but he reasons severely and logically, even as a man--he has moreover stern notions of duty which bend and fashion his life, instead of living fashioned by it, as is the case with women." A female friend Briseida says, "I recognize in Laurent much that is strictly feminine, ... and in the name of the female sex, I claim her as one of us. Her modesty, her purity, her tenderness of heart belong only to woman .... It is true that she can reason better than most women, yet is she most herself when she feels, when she follows that instinctive, undoubting sense of inner truths which is only given to women and to angels." A physician ("the Medicus"), as well as Berto and Briseida, also describe Laurence in terms of a unified gender: * "one presenting a beautiful physical development, and combining in the spiritual nature all that is most attractive in either sex." * "the poetic dream of the ancient sculptor, more beautiful, though less human, than either man or woman." * "I cannot pronounce Laurent either man or woman ... I shall speak most justly if I say he is rather both than neither." * "a heavenly superhuman mystery, one undivided, integral soul, needing not to seek on earth its other moiety, needing only to adore the God above it, and to labour for its brethren around it." It is this unified-gender analysis which seems to prevail and conclude Laurence's story.Williams, pp. 194-196. 

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The serial adventure Evenfall narrates the journey of Eve, a young woman following in the footsteps of her fallen father. She's partnered with "Uncle," her father's former colleague and her surrogate father. Ben, a tech genius, rounds out the trio as they embark on clandestine missions for a private intelligence agency. This chapter of Eve's adventures opens on a crowded ballroom during Eve's first field operation where she first encounters Miles Devlin, a charming but ruthless Englishman. Things take a turn for the worse when Miles wounds her and escapes. After she recovers and gains more field experience, Eve encounters Miles again, this time in Hong Kong. He aims to steal an ancient and valuable Chinese diary that Eve has acquired, but she is determined to keep it and settle the score. As Eve and Miles struggle for possession of the diary, Uncle and Ben are in a London auction house poised to acquire a rare jade pendant. They must outbid Miles' employer, Mr. Durand, a French millionaire and collector who is determined to win the jade himself. Uncle assumes the alias of an antiquities dealer while Ben laces Mr. Durand's scotch with a sedative. But Mr. Durand's watchful attaché Simon Leduc becomes suspicious and tries to uncover Uncle's true identity. What Eve and her colleagues don't yet realize is that securing these items will propel them on a journey that will reveal the mystery of her father's death. 

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The protagonist of the Bildungsroman is Arthur "Artie" Kipps, an illegitimate orphan. In Book I ("The Making of Kipps"), he is raised by his aged aunt and uncle, who keep a little shop in New Romney, on the southern coast of Kent. He attends the Cavendish Academy ("a middle-class school", not a "boarding school",H.G. Wells, Kipps, II, 1, §2.) in Hastings, in East Sussex. "By inherent nature he had a sociable disposition",H.G. Wells, Kipps, I, 1, §1. and befriends Sid Pornick, the neighbour's boy. Kipps falls in love with Sid's younger sister, Ann. Ann gives him half a sixpence as a token of their love when, at 14, he is apprenticed to the Folkestone Drapery Bazaar, run by Mr. Shalford. However, the Pornicks move away and Kipps forgets Ann. He becomes infatuated with Helen Walshingham, who teaches a wood carving class on Thursday nights. When Chitterlow, an actor and aspiring playwright, meets Kipps by running into him with his bicycle, their encounter turns into an inebriated evening that leads to Kipps being "swapped" (dismissed). However, before he leaves Mr. Shalford's establishment, Chitterlow brings to his attention a newspaper advertisement that leads to an unsuspected inheritance for Kipps from his grandfather of a house and £26,000.H.G. Wells, Kipps, I, 6, §5. In Book II ("Mr. Coote the Chaperon"), Kipps fails in his attempt to adapt to his new social class while he lives in Folkestone. By chance, he meets a Mr. Coote, who undertakes his social education; that leads to renewed contact with Helen Walshingham, and they become engaged. However, the process of bettering himself alienates Kipps more and more, especially since Helen takes advantage of Kipps's fortune to establish herself and her brother in London society. Chance meetings with Sid and then Ann, now a house servant, lead to a decision to abandon social conventions and his engagement to Helen and marry his childhood sweetheart. In Book III ("Kippses"), the attempt to find a suitable house for his new status precipitates Kipps back into a struggle with the "complex and difficult" English social system. Kipps and Ann quarrel. Then, they learn that Helen's brother, a solicitor, has lost most of their fortune through speculation. That leads to a happier situation, however, when Kipps opens a branch of the Associated Booksellers' Trading Union (Limited) in Hythe, and they have a son. The success of Chitterlow's play, in which Kipps had invested £2,000, restores their fortune, but they are content to remain, as at the beginning, shopkeepers in a small coastal town. 

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The book is set in and around the author's home town of Concord, Massachusetts and in the realm of Nyeusigrube. The book centers around Risika who born in 1684 as Rachel Weatere, a God-fearing seventeen-year-old who lived with her father, half-sister, Lynette, and her twin brother, Alexander. Alexander lives in fear as he believes he is of the Devil as he is able to hear people's thoughts and cause things to happen, including manipulating fire, causing him to inadvertently burn his sister Lynette. Aware of her twin brother's powers and his dislike for them, Rachel tries to do her best to comfort him. One day, an unknown stranger appears at their home, who is later revealed as Aubrey and gives Rachel a black rose, which pricks her finger, drawing blood. That night, Rachel hears her twin creep past her room and she follows him to find him confronting two vampires, Ather and Aubrey, who had come to transform Rachel against her will into a vampire to get back at Alexander for interfering with Ather when she tried to feed on Lynette. In an attempt to stop Ather from harming her brother, Rachel confronts Ather but Aubrey grabs her brother and drags him off, while exposing a knife. Rachel tries to go after them but Ather grabs her instead and begins her transformation into a vampire. Three hundred years later, Rachel, now calling herself Risika, has a run-in with Aubrey after accidentally trespassing onto his territory in an attempt to feed, he leaves her another black rose and a note stating, "Stay in your place, Risika." Fearing Aubrey, but not letting it on, she burns the note and leaves it where Aubrey can find it, and does not visit the Bengal tiger which she has named Tora, in fear that Aubrey would use Tora to hurt her. Eventually Aubrey learns of Tora's existence and in an attempt to get Risika to lay low, he kills the tiger. Wounded once more, Risika takes on the tiger's stripes in her hair and finds a note with the name "Rachel" written on it and covered with tears. Enraged and thinking the note a joke, she calls out to whoever left the note but no one answers. She then takes off, transforming into a hawk, to confront Aubrey, and a fight breaks out between the two and Risika realizes she can defeat him and transforms herself into a Bengal tiger and pins Aubrey to the ground. In desperation and not wanting to die, Aubrey offers Risika his blood, which opens his mind to Risika. Accepting this, Risika transforms back to herself and takes Aubrey's blood but before allowing him to leave she takes the knife he carries, which she had found out nearly 300 years ago contains magic from one of the witch's clans, and slashes him in his collarbone, avenging the scar he had left on her not too long after she had been transformed and tells him to remember the events of that day and warns him that even though she has taken his blood it did not make up for the death of Tora or Alexander. After Aubrey leaves, Alexander reveals to Risika that he is still alive and that he was the one who had left her the note. He reveals that the reason Ather changed her was out of revenge against Alexander for having interrupting her trying feed on Lynette. Believing he could help his sister, Risika informs him that she is happy as she is and the story ends. 

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The player is transported to the land of make believe by the magical dragon Bookwyrm, who needs their help unknotting the mess that's become of five famous fairy tales; Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Bremen Town Musicians, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Snow White thanks to the machinations of a spiteful troll named Bookend. For instance, the prince can't find Cinderella because her glass slipper was stolen, Jack's axe is missing so he can't chop down the beanstalk, Snow White is lost and needs help finding the seven dwarves' house, etc. Bookwyrm, who had the book all the stories were recorded in, could always be consulted for directions to the player's next objective when he or she got stuck. 

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Allen Payne plays a basketball player who becomes involved in a sex scandal. 

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The film starts with the murder of Priti, wife of Shekhar (Aftab Shivdasani), a wealthy and well-known journalist. Inspector Lokhande (Ashutosh Rana) investigates the case and accuses Shekhar of the murder, saying he has enough evidence to arrest and convict him. However upon getting bail from the court, Shekhar asks his lawyer to fight his case for him however his lawyer tells him that he will not be able to fight his case because he is a corporate lawyer and only fights civil cases. He suggests Shekhar to ask Simran Bhargav (Lisa Ray), who is a very skilled criminal lawyer in his firm to fight his case. Shekhar goes to Simran's house to convince her to take his case. Simran tells Shekhar that she'll defend him only if she is convinced that he is innocent. Simran is battling inner demons over a case in which she got a man convicted for crime he had not committed. Her guilt increases when she learns that the innocent man had committed suicide in custody. While representing Shekhar, whom she considers innocent, Simran falls in love with him – a part of Shekhar's plan to win her trust. They end up having intimate, passionate and sensual sex. Throughout the case a mysterious man sends clues to Simran which helps her prove Shekhar's innocence. It is revealed that Shekhar was having an affair with another woman and so was his wife Priti having an affair with Jimmy Parena. When Simran comes to know this she is heartbroken and decides to leave the case but Amit (Apurva Agnihotri) tells her to keep fighting the case. After the court declares Shekhar innocent, Simran spends the night with Shekhar at his house. The next morning, while opening his closet, she finds a typewriter hidden between sheets. The typewriter proved to be the one the mysterious man used to write clue letters to Simran with earlier. Simran realizes this because the typed letters all have a flyaway 't' on them. Simran realizes that Shekhar is the murderer and the mysterious man who wrote the letters to her. She then contacts Inspector Lokhande about the typewriter. He tells her to come to the police station with the typewriter. She continuously ignores Shekhar who asks her for dinner. Shekhar realizes that Simran knows the truth. Shekhar quickly reaches her house and tries to kill her but Simran kills him in self-defense and reconciles with Amit. 

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Captain Archer prepares to lead a survey team to an uninhabited planet, when Enterprise is hailed by a trio of aliens, who warn him that a deadly neutronic wavefront, many light years across, is quickly approaching at a speed close to warp 7. Since his warp 5 ship cannot outrun the storm, Archer soon concludes that everyone must take shelter in order to survive the storm's radiation. Commander Tucker suggests that the one heavily shielded place on board that might suffice for the eight-day ordeal is the catwalk, a maintenance shaft that runs the length of each nacelle. Only one problemthe temperature there can reach degrees (572 degrees F) when the warp coils are online, so he will have to keep the main reactor offline. With only four hours to prepare, everyone evacuates to the catwalk. The storm soon envelops the ship, and as the days wear on, nerves fray particularly with the alien guests, who start up a barbecue near a flammable conduit. To make matters worse, Tucker and Archer discover a problem in Engineering as the injectors have come online. Tucker cannot shut them down from the catwalk, and his EV suit will only protect him for 22 minutes. In Engineering, he soon notices an alien ship docked alongside, and alien intruders, who appear to be interfering with the ship's systems. Doctor Phlox deduces that the aliens are actually immune to the effects of radiation. When confronted, the trio confesses that the other aliens are actually looking for them. They explain that they were officers in the Takret Militia, but they deserted when they learned that the commanding officers were corrupt. To defend the ship, Archer, Sub-Commander T'Pol, and Lieutenant Reed suit up, and while T'Pol and Reed work to shut down the warp reactor, Archer hails the alien leader, pretending to be the sole surviving crewmember from the effects of the storm. He demands they leave, and then, playing a game of chicken with the intruders, orders Ensign Mayweather to head straight for a plasma eddy. As T'Pol and Reed finally succeed in shutting the reactor down, the intruders abandon ship. Soon after, as they clear the storm, the original alien visitors apologize for all the trouble they have caused, and depart. 

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"A seemingly-untroubled adolescent carries disturbing secrets that compel a psychiatrist to unearth the patient's gruesome past." Psychiatrist Michael Hunter and his wife are watching their daughter Shelly's school play. Their son Kyle, who is suffering from depression, stays at home, because he can not stand being among people as he says. While the parents are applauding Shelly, Kyle commits suicide in family's garage. Several years later the family has fallen apart because of their loss. Michael retreats, writes books, holds speeches for University students, but he no longer treats patients. When his former student, Barbara Wagner, approaches him asking for help with a case he initially refuses, but then gives in to taking over the case of 17-year-old Thomas "Tommy" Caffey, who witnessed his father murder his mother. It is Michael's job to decide if the teenager can leave the psychiatric facility when he turns 18. But while working with Tommy, Michael realizes how much the boy reminds him of his own son Kyle and feelings of guilt arise in the psychologist. In flashbacks and conversations, the viewer receives background information of Kyle's suicide. Michael had his son see a therapist—an old university friend named Harry Quinlan—instead of taking medication. In his son's suicide letter, Michael finds out that Kyle was sexually abused by Quinlan. When Michael tries to confront Quinlan, the therapist won't unlock the front door. Michael goes to the glass back door, through which he sees Quinlan pull a gun out of a drawer. As Quinlan places the barrel in his mouth, Michael angrily yells at him to shoot himself, which the therapist does. Tommy kills Chloe, a girl on ecstasy, at a party because she forced him to have sex. At the same party, Tommy befriends Shelly and they become closer. Shelly tells Tommy about Kyle. From then on, Tommy uses the information in therapy sessions and manipulates Michael, who more and more sees his own son in him. When Michael visits Tommy's father in prison he finds out that Tommy's mother misused the boy as a lover and slept with him regularly. This is the reason why the father, who came home early one day, bludgeoned the mother to death, and why Tommy severely injures/kills women who try to have physical contact with him. However, Mr. Caffey had always said it was because he found out his wife had a lover, running away, and tells Michael he'll deny all of that if he repeats that. In the last part of the movie, Tommy tries to make Barbara release him to an independent life. When she refuses and touches him, he pushes her through a glass window. After she crawls to a telephone and attempts to call police, Tommy beats her with the handset. He flees in a stolen car and, armed with a weapon, picks up Shelly from her mother's house and speeds away. Michael finds the severely wounded Barbara in her apartment. As she is being treated, Barbara warns Michael about Tommy's plan. Michael races to his ex-wife's house, narrowly missing the boy, whom he chases. The boy's flight comes to an end near train tracks, where he holds Shelly at gunpoint. Michael confronts Tommy with what his mother did and Tommy surrenders the girl and the gun. When a train approaches, Tommy tears loose from Michael's embrace and runs onto the tracks. At the last second, Tommy stops on the tracks, throws up his arms, and awaits impact. Michael grabs Tommy and they fall away from the locomotive. In the closing scene, Michael and Tommy light-heartedly play handball at a mental institution. 

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Top Hollywood talent agent, Jack Giamoro (Ben Affleck) seems to have it all: a successful career, a lot of money, a nice car, a beautiful wife, etc. However, while pursuing success, he somehow lost himself and neglected his marriage. He decides to take a journal writing class to do some self-searching. Jack's seemingly perfect world starts to unravel when he learns that his wife, Nina (Rebecca Romijn), is cheating on him with his most important client. Things get worse when Barbi (Bai Ling), an ambitious journalist, steals Jack's journal, which contains secrets that could ruin him personally and professionally. Jack is forced to fight for everything he has worked so hard to achieve and in doing so, he attains the self-insight he was looking for. By realizing that there is more to life than work, he begins to focus on what's most important in his life. 

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Lenny invites his friends in Springfield to a party at his apartment, where has bought a brand new plasma screen high-definition television. Homer immediately falls in love with its HD picture, and begins to spend all his time at Lenny's home watching HDTV. Marge sends over Bart and Lisa to convince him to come back but they too become enthralled. After a few days, Homer is kicked out by Lenny, and when he returns home he no longer enjoys watching his regular CRT TV, so Marge enters the family in a contest where first-place prize is a plasma HDTV. They later manage to win the third-place prize: a trip to the studios of Fox Broadcasting Company. There, Homer learns of a reality show called Mother Flippers in which the mothers of two families switch places. The grand prize happens to be enough money to buy a new plasma HDTV, so the family signs up for the show. Marge is traded to a nice, easygoing man named Charles Heathbar and his perfect son Ben, while Homer gets Charles' strict wife Verity. Charles dislikes his wife, especially for constantly telling him what to do, so he is surprised to see that Marge is understanding and kind. As Marge enjoys her time with Charles, he begins to develop an infatuation for her. Meanwhile, Homer, Bart, and Lisa are having major troubles with Verity, who disciplines them and objects to everything they do. At one point, Verity makes Bart and Homer write reports on Itchy and Scratchy and CSI: Miami. Charles proclaims his love for Marge by song, but she explains to him that she loves Homer, and that he should tell his wife how he feels about her. He agrees, and decides to take Marge back to Homer and then get rid of Verity. When the two arrive in Springfield, however, Verity has already decided to leave Charles and found a new partner, Patty Bouvier, brought together by their hatred for Homer. That night Homer plays a guitar and expresses his undying love for his newly bought plasma HDTV and (to a lesser extent) Marge. 

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Jo Jones (Ginger Rogers) works in an airplane factory and longs for the day when she will see her husband (Robert Ryan) again. The couple have a heart wrenching farewell at the train station before he leaves for overseas duty in the war. With their husbands off fighting in World War II, Jo and her co-workers struggle to pay living expenses. Dissatisfied with their living arrangements, they decide to pool their money and rent a house together, soon after which they hire a German immigrant housekeeper, Manya (Mady Christians). Jo discovers she is pregnant and ends up having a son whom she names Chris after his father. The women are overjoyed when Doris's (Kim Hunter) husband comes home, but the same day Jo receives a telegram informing her that her husband has been killed. She hides her grief and as the film ends descends the stairs in order to rejoin the homecoming celebration. 

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In the book Troost described how he and his girlfriend Sylvia adjusted to life on the remote small island in the South Pacific, and built a life for themselves there. Troost described the unusual people they lived with, and bizarre and unfamiliar local customs, as well as the local people's reaction to Troost's own behaviour that they regarded as unusual. In those two years, the author adjusted to an over-whelming fish- based diet, extreme heat, and an ineffective government, which the author describes as "Coconut Stalinism - though Stalin, at least, got something done." He described frequent electrical and water shortages, along with many other idiosyncrasies of living on such a small and remote island. At the same time, Troost also challenges American complacency toward its own history, by doing so little to remember the many troops who died in the Battle of Tarawa during World War II, and the many foreign aid workers and consultants, who failed to consider the islanders' real needs or local culture. 

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After being kicked out of Constance Billard, Jenny enrolls at the posh Waverly Academy located in Upstate New York. Jenny hopes to leave her old, unsophisticated, embarrassing past behind and reinvent herself as “New Jenny.” Initially, "New Jenny"'s debut seemed to get off on a rocky start as Waverly mistakenly had Jenny down as a boy, due to a computer error. While the administrators try to sort out Jenny's roommate situation, Jenny retrieves her luggage to the boys' dorm where it was sent. There she meets the handsome Brandon Buchanan and the charmingly sloppy Heath Ferro. Jenny is more taken with Heath than Brandon due to Brandon's metrosexual tendencies, unaware of Heath's reputation as a man- slut. Quickly, a room has been found for Jenny in Dumbarton hall. To her pleasure, her new roommates are Callie Vernon and Brett Messerschmidt, two of the most popular girls on campus. Jenny occupies the third bed in the triple that used to belong to Tinsley Carmichael, who was expelled the previous year for getting caught with E on school campus. Callie and Brett were also with Tinsley when she was caught with the E, but strangely enough, only Tinsley was punished. Callie and Brett are suspicious of each other, each believing the other one snitched on Tinsley and is therefore untrustworthy. Callie is dating Easy Walsh, her adorable artsy boyfriend, but their relationship has hit a rut. After spending summer vacation together in Barcelona, Callie told Easy that she loved him, and was crushed when he didn't say it back, especially since Callie had been planning to have lose her virginity to him after he declared his love for her too. She is desperate to recapture the passion the two had sophomore year but feels Easy pulling away from her. Meanwhile, Brett is secretly relieved that Tinsley has been expelled as Tinsley knows Brett's most embarrassing secret: the Messerchimdts are not New England old money, but in fact, hopelessly tacky New Jersey nouveau riche. Still, Brett is wary of Callie and does not trust her to talk about her crush on the new student advisor, Eric Dalton who seems equally interested in Brett. Even though Brett already has a boyfriend, Jeremiah Mortimer, she is eager to dump him for the more worldly Eric Dalton. Dalton invites her to his parents' home and she quickly spills her embarrassing life story but to her delight, Dalton finds her life story endearing. Seeing this relationship could take a turn for the romantic, Brett breaks up with Jeremiah via voice mail. Later that night, the first party of the year is held in one of the dorms and Jenny is blissfully unaware of the gossip already swirling about her: Jenny is a stripper from New York City who takes her clothes for less than a dollar at a notorious club known as Rooster. Unaware, Jenny accepts Heath's invitation to go into the school chapel alone. Jenny allows Heath to kiss her for a while but is dismayed when he passes out in her lap. Afterwards, Jenny simply walks him to his dorm and leaves him but the next day, Heath brags about how hot and heavy he and Jenny got in the chapel. Embarrassed, Jenny leaves dinner early to go back to her room. Eager to fix her problem with Easy, Callie becomes convinced sex will make Easy love her and invites him to her room, unaware of Jenny trying to sleep. Jenny realizes the couple are about to have sex and is unsure about what to do when Easy accidentally knocks over some objects, hitting Jenny accidentally. Jenny is discovered and Easy is annoyed with Callie for being inconsiderate to her roommate. Frustrated, Callie leaves the room to go to the bathroom and while she is gone, Easy and Jenny talk. Easy is surprised at his attraction to Jenny but their conversation is interrupted by the dorm supervisor's husband, Mr. Pardee. Easy makes his escape as Callie returns. Realizing she would get punished and possibly expelled for having Easy in her room, Callie lies and convinces Mr. Pardee that Easy was in fact, visiting Jenny and not her. Although skeptical, Mr. Pardee accepts the explanation and leaves. Callie then begs Jenny to go along with the ruse but Jenny is still unsure, despite her attraction to Easy. Easy and Jenny are each called in separately to meet with their student advisor, Eric Dalton. Jenny chooses not to make any comment about the incident, not wanting to get in trouble but not wanting to get Callie in trouble either. Mr. Dalton decides the matter will be resolved in a disciplinary hearing. After Jenny, Easy is brought in and it is revealed though Easy hates Waverly with all its rules and regulations, his father promised that if Easy graduated from Waverly, he would receive an apartment in Paris and be allowed to fulfill his dream of being an artist. After his meeting with Dalton, Callie insists on meeting. She quickly briefs him on her scheme and is pleased when Easy agrees, unaware of his feelings for Jenny. Jenny and Easy flirt with each other in their art class. The whole campus quickly finds out and are surprised when Callie is not angry at Jenny for "stealing" Easy. Unaware of Callie's plan, co-captain of the field hockey team, Celine Colista pressures Callie to select Jenny to be the target of the year's hazing ritual at the field hockey match against St. Lucius. Callie fears that Jenny will be embarrassed and then lash out by refusing to go along with the plan and tries to stop Celine but Jenny quickly agrees, eager to fit in with the new field hockey team she has just joined. Jenny also manages to reach out to Brett who admits to feelings for Dalton. Brett slowly comes to view Jenny as a friend and is tempted to warn her about the hazing ritual, facing an extreme backlash if she does so, but it is too late. Jenny performs the embarrassing cheer on her own, expecting the rest of the team to join and is initially mortified when she realizes the prank, but quickly turns the cheer around, even getting back at Heath Ferro. The rest of the team participates in the cheer, making Jenny one of the most popular girls in the school. The popular groups meet up at Heath Ferro's party and Easy feels distance growing between him and Callie. He leaves her with Heath Ferro and others who are playing drinking games to be alone. He joins Jenny and the two admit their feelings for each other. After the match, Brett meets up with Dalton who rebuffs her advances, much to her dismay. The next day, the girls are forced to play a scrimmage, despite being hungover and tired from the party. Tensions between Callie and Brett rise and the two almost get into a full on fight over who sold Tinsley out. Quickly, the two realize Tinsley took all the blame and make up. Practice quickly ends and Brett receives a message from Eric who decides to pursue an affair with her. On her way back to Waverly, Brett bumps into Jeremiah who confronts her about their break up. Brett brushes Jeremiah off, elated with her new relationship. However, Callie's relationship with Easy is quickly deteriorating. Suspecting Easy's affections waning, Callie attempts to seduce him in the rare book room in the library but becomes frustrated when Easy does not reciprocate. Likewise, Easy becomes frustrated when Callie tries to grill him on his future comments at the disciplinary hearing. The two fight and Easy breaks up with Callie. The next day, at the disciplinary hearing, Easy is found guilty but is let off easy as he is a legacy child. Jenny is pleased with the outcome and celebrates with her roommates, the three of them quickly becoming fast friends. As the three celebrate, Dean Marymount interrupts, announcing Tinsley Carmichael's return. 

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The story is set in the fictional town of Mossville, which is inhabited by civilized anthropomorphic animals, such as mice, rabbits, toads and so on. As the book begins, Abel, a mouse, is enjoying a picnic with his wife Amanda, but they are interrupted by a fierce rainstorm and are forced to take shelter in a cave nearby. The two are separated when Abel braves the storm to retrieve Amanda's scarf, blown away by a gust of wind. The storm washes Abel into a river and he is swept downstream until he is stranded on an island. Abel attempts to escape the island several times, but fails, and finally realizes that he must survive on the island by himself. He finds a log and makes it his home in the winter. To ease his loneliness, he creates his family out of clay and talks to them. Poor Abel has to live through the hardest times, including battling an owl and surviving through a harsh winter., Later in the novel, another stranded victim from the river, a frog named Gower, comes and befriends Abel. Later, he leaves promising that he will send for help when he gets back home. However, weeks pass and no one comes. Gower either forgot (due to his lack of memory) or never made it back. Abel then decides to swim against the fierce river after the water level has dropped sufficiently. Abel eventually makes the hard trip back and returns to Mossville. 

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The deaths of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, and victory at the Battle of Endor by no means spelled the end of the Empire. In the aftermath, the New Republic has faced a constant struggle to survive and grow. And now a new threat looms: a masterpiece of Alderaanian art, lost in transit after the planet's destruction, has resurfaced on the black market. Offered at auction, it will command a handsome price . . . but its greatest value lies in the vital secret it conceals—the key to a code used to communicate with New Republic agents deep undercover within the Empire. Discovery of the key by Imperial forces would spell certain disaster. The only option is recovery—and Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, Chewbacca, and C-3PO have been dispatched to Tatooine to infiltrate the auction. But trouble is waiting when they arrive: an Imperial Star Destroyer is orbiting Tatooine on the lookout for Rebels; a mysterious stranger at the auction seems to recognize Leia; and an Imperial officer's aggressive bidding for the Alderaanian painting could foil the Solos’ mission. When a dispute erupts into violence, and the painting vanishes in the chaos, Han and Leia are thrust into a desperate race to reclaim it before Imperial troops or a band of unsavory treasure-peddlers get there first. Dangerous as the chase is, for Leia it leads into especially dark territory. Already haunted by the specter of her infamous father, and fearful that his evil may infect future generations, she has suffered a disturbing Force vision of Luke turning to the dark side. As she battles beside Han against marauding TIE fighters, encroaching stormtroopers, and Tatooine's savage Tusken Raiders, Leia's struggle with the warring emotions inside her culminates in the discovery of an extraordinary link to the past. And as long-buried secrets and truths at last emerge, she faces a moment of reckoning that will forever alter her destiny . . . and that of the New Republic. 

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Meek high school student Jerry Mitchell and his sister Brei have the house to themselves while their parents are on vacation. Jerry's day begins badly when he wakes late and gets worse when he nearly wrecks his car while driving his sister and his school friend Franny to Weaver High School. The students this morning are gossiping about the new student Buddy Revell, a violent delinquent who has just transferred to Weaver from a continuation high school. Jerry's first hour is spent at the school newspaper, where his best friend, Vincent Costello, is the editor. Their journalism teacher has the idea of doing an article about Buddy to welcome the "new kid", and she assigns Jerry to do an interview. Jerry sees Buddy in the restroom and clumsily attempts to introduce himself, bringing up the article idea. Through a series of poorly chosen statements, Jerry realizes he is only making Buddy angry and decides to cut his losses, telling Buddy to "...just forget this whole thing happened", giving Buddy a friendly tap on the arm. Buddy, who does not like being touched by anyone, responds by tossing Jerry against a wall and stating that the two will now fight after school at 3 o'clock in the parking lot. With little more than six hours to go, Jerry tries different strategies to avoid the fight. Trying to reason with Buddy doesn't work. Vincent suggests that he plant a switchblade in Buddy's locker to get him kicked out of school; Brei advises him to simply skip school, but when Jerry tries to leave, he finds the switchblade he planted now stuck in his car's steering wheel, and his ignition wires cut. Trying to run, Jerry is caught by overzealous school security guard, Duke, who finds the switchblade and takes Jerry to the office of Mr. Dolinski, the Dean of Discipline. Seeing an otherwise perfectly clean record, the suspicious Mr. Dolinski tells Jerry that he will be keeping his eye on him from now on, and lets him go. Jerry makes several other attempts to avoid the fight: he steals money from the school's student store, which he manages, and uses it to pay an upperclassman to "take care of" Buddy; he tries to get thrown into detention by making a pass at his English teacher; he lets Buddy cheat by copying Jerry's answers during a math quiz. All attempts fail, and the clock continues to tick down. After trying to befriend Buddy, he offers him the stolen cash to call off the fight. Buddy accepts but scornfully calls Jerry "the biggest pussy I ever met in my life". Jerry, now seized with self- loathing and anger, decides to confront Buddy, and he demands the money back. When Buddy refuses, Jerry insists that he is no coward and declares that their fight is back on. The clock finally reaches the appointed hour, and the fight begins with hundreds of eager students looking on. Principal O'Rourke, Mr. Dolinski, Duke, Franny, and even the guilt-plagued Vincent attempt to intervene, but Buddy easily disposes of them. Jerry, though out-matched, stands his ground while being knocked down. His sister picks up Buddy's dropped brass knuckles and slips them to Jerry. He uses them in a desperate move to stun and knock-out Buddy; during the excitement that follows, Buddy vanishes. The next day, many students show their admiration and support to Jerry for such a great fight. They begin buying individual sheets of paper for $1 from the school store to help Jerry make-up the store's missing cash. Buddy suddenly shows up, silencing the crowd. He openly returns the $350 to Jerry, begrudgingly showing his respect. Weaver High is now filled with new gossip, as Jerry replaces Buddy as the school's hot discussion topic, with rumors having a wide and humorous range from the actual truth. 

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Prior to the beginning of the story, in the 23rd century, the Earth has shattered into billions of pieces which orbit around a central core. In this new world, named Skyland, an evolved form of human has appeared: Seijins, who absorb energy from sunlight and use it to fuel special abilities such as telekinesis, telepathy, mental control, astral projection, energy balls or blasts, and electric rays. The Skyland is ruled by the Sphere: an organization which controls the water supplies, and maintains its power by Guardians, Seijins indoctrinated and trained from childhood. This dictatorship is fought by pirates. After the capture of their mother by the Sphere, protagonists Mahad and Lena, a young Seijin still learning to control her powers, are rescued by a group of pirates, and join the pirate rebellion. 

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One of the interesting things about the setting is that a different flavor of fantasy campaign can be had depending on which region of Yrth one uses. Araterre, for instance, is a seafaring nation inhabited by the descendants of those brought to Yrth from France in the 16th century. Light or no armor, swashbuckling, and courtly intrigue are the rule of the day. Sahud is the Asian mish-mash country, and would be suitable for a wuxia style game, or even something akin to Legend of the Five Rings. Some countries are almost entirely human- dominated, and others are mixed, while there are still some area completely under the control of Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, or Reptile Men. 

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Wealthy businessman Andrew J. "A. J." Mason, Sr. takes his nervous partner, Peyton Potter, to the Club New Yorker for a celebratory evening with his son, Sgt. Andrew J. Mason, Jr., who is about to report for active duty in the Army. A. J. and Andy enjoy the show, which features master of ceremonies Phil Baker and dancer Tony De Marco, while Potter worries about what his wife Blossom would say if she knew he was there. While Potter is trapped into dancing with Brazilian sensation Dorita, Andy becomes intrigued by entertainer Eadie Allen. Phil warns Andy that because Eadie dances at the Broadway Canteen between shows, she will not go out on a date with him, but Andy follows her to the canteen and tells her that his name is Sgt. Pat Casey so that she will not be intimidated by his wealth. Despite her insistence that she cannot date servicemen outside the canteen, Eadie is charmed by Andy and agrees to meet him later when he pursues her to the nightclub. Eadie and Andy spend the evening talking and falling in love, and the next day, Eadie bids him farewell at the train station and promises to write every day. Andy distinguishes himself in battle in the South Pacific, and is granted a furlough after being awarded a medal. A. J. is thrilled and plans to throw a welcome home party for Andy at the Club New Yorker. Phil cannot accommodate his plans, however, as the club is closed for two weeks while the company rehearses a new show. Munificent as always, A. J. invites the performers to rehearse at his and Potter's homes, where they can throw a lavish garden party and war bond rally to welcome Andy. Potter is perturbed about the arrangements when he learns that Blossom knows Phil from her former days as an entertainer, and his chagrin grows when Tony's partner cannot perform and he asks Potter's daughter Vivian to dance with him. Hoping to persuade the stodgy Potter to allow Vivian to perform, Blossom tells him that Phil has threatened to reveal her wild past if Vivian is not in the show. Potter acquiesces, but his problems grow when he is pursued by the romantic-minded Dorita. When not chasing Potter, Dorita learns that Vivian has a boyfriend named Andy, and that he and Eadie's "Casey" are the same man. Complications arise as Dorita tries to keep Vivian and Eadie from discovering Andy's deception. When Andy and the real Pat Casey arrive at the club, however, Eadie learns the truth. Andy proclaims that he wants to marry her and not Vivian, but Eadie insists on breaking off their relationship, as she believes that Vivian really cares for him. During the show, however, Vivian tells Eadie that she is going to Broadway to perform as Tony's permanent partner, and reveals that she and Andy were never truly in love. As the show comes to a close, Eadie and Andy reconcile, and everyone joins in the final song. 

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The main character in “Trap of Gold” is multi-faceted. Within the story, the established protagonist, Wetherton, is digging for gold in the outback mine to support his family, yet the precious metal is concealed under a rickety rock tower. Through several tense events, he displays his most obvious inclinations to be cautious, greedy, and loving. 

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The story follows Kouya Marino, a 5th-grade boy who loves Gear Fighting. His older brother, Yuhya Marino happens to be an Asia Cup Gear Fighter Champion and is qualified in the World Cup tournament when he died four years ago because of an accident. Kouya's skills are nowhere near his brother's, and is nearly disqualified after arriving late for an elimination match in the Tobita Club. Most of the team members shift into the Manganji Club – a team created by one of the club's former members, Takeshi Manganji – causing his brother's Crush Gear Club faces the threat of extinction from the rival team. Refusing to give up, Kouya challenges Takeshi. At first, he uses the Garuda Eagle from Yuhya, but is later destroyed in the middle of the Butokan Cup. Soon after, Kouya's teammate Kyousuke Jin created the Garuda Phoenix for him, and Kouya uses it throughout the Gear Fighting. Kouya has to find a way to reinstate the Tobita Club back to its former glory. 

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New York society matron Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke) receives word that Lord and Lady Ferncliffe have accepted her invitation to dinner. She is overjoyed by this social coup, but her husband Oliver (Lionel Barrymore), a shipping magnate, finds Ferncliffe boring. Their daughter, Paula (Madge Evans) is preoccupied with the impending return of her fiancé, Ernest DeGraff (Phillips Holmes), from Europe. Oliver asks Millicent to invite legendary stage actress Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler), who has just arrived from Europe. Carlotta comes to his office, and they reminisce: Oliver asked her to marry him the day he turned 21 (She is older.) When she refused, he turned to work. In her heyday, Carlotta's lovers showered her with stock and gems. The Jordan stock was the only one she paid for herself. Now she must sell, but Oliver lacks the funds. His business has been struck hard by the Depression. Magnate Dan Packard (Wallace Beery), a former miner, agrees to consider helping Oliver, but later brags to his wife, Kitty (Jean Harlow), that he plans to take over Jordan Shipping. Oliver convinces Millicent to invite the Packards. Kitty, who is young, beautiful, ill-mannered, and socially ambitious, eagerly accepts. Dan refuses to go but changes his mind when he finds out that Lord Ferncliffe, “the richest man in England,” will attend. On the morning of her dinner, Millicent loses her extra man. She telephones Larry Renault (John Barrymore), a former silent screen star recently profiled in the newspaper, and extends a last-minute invitation, unaware that Paula is in his room. Paula adores Larry and cannot imagine life with Ernest now. Their affair has lasted almost a month. He wants to break it off. He is 47, Paula 19. He abandoned his first wife; the second, drunk, drove her car over a cliff; he is still married to the third, now a great star. There have been countless affairs. He is burned out. “This is the first decent thing I have done in my life,” he says. Paula refuses to listen, declaring that she will tell her family tonight. Carlotta sees Paula leaving Larry's room. A hardened alcoholic, Larry is on the brink of collapse. His agent, Max Kane (Lee Tracy), tells him that the stage play he was counting on has a new producer, Jo Stengel (Jean Hersholt). Stengel has put another actor in the lead but is willing to consider Larry in a character part. The Jordans' physician and friend Dr. Wayne Talbot (Edmund Lowe) has been carrying on with Kitty while pretending to tend to her feigned illnesses. On the day of the dinner, his wife, Lucy (Karen Morley), discovers him in a compromising telephone call with Kitty. Lucy still loves him, and he wants to change. They kiss, and Oliver is rushed into the office. Amyl nitrite restores him, but Oliver wisely deduces the seriousness of his illness. Talbot tells his nurse the diagnosis: thrombosis of the coronary artery. Oliver has a few years—or a few days. At home, Oliver tells Millicent that he feels rotten and needs to rest, but she is too hysterical to hear because, among several disasters, the Ferncliffes have canceled. Meanwhile, Kitty and Dan have a vicious fight. Threatened with divorce, she tells him to choose between his Cabinet appointment and a career-stopping revelation from her about his crooked dealings. He must save the Jordan line—and treat her with more respect. She wins this round because Dan doesn't know the name of her lover. Her maid, Tina (Hilda Vaughan), who does, proceeds to blackmail her. When Max returns. Larry alienates Stengel, who leaves. Max chastises Larry with the truth and leaves; the hotel manager tells Larry to leave tomorrow. Larry turns on his gas fireplace, reclines to show off his famous profile, and waits to die. The dinner guests arrive at the Jordans'. Carlotta tells Paula about Larry and comforts the weeping girl. Oliver has an attack. Millicent learns about his illness and the business. First, she weeps, then she springs into action, planning their future. Downstairs, Kitty forces Dan to tell Oliver that he has saved the Jordan line. Going into dinner, Kitty remarks, “ I was reading a book the other day”, and Carlotta does a superb double-take. The book said that machinery is going to take the place of every profession. Carlotta scans Kitty from head to toe and takes her arm: "Oh my dear, that's something you never need to worry about." .Although this memorable statement is often described as the last line of the film, there is more to come. Carlotta calls to the company gathering around the table, “Say, I want to sit next to Oliver! Oliver, Where are you?” and the doors close on the dining room.Additional dialogue by Donald Ogden Stewart 

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The series, based on a sequence of novels by Edgar Wallace including a 1905 novel titled The Four Just Men, presents the adventures of four men who first meet while Allied soldiers in Italy during the Second World War. The men later meet again, and decide to fight for justice and against tyranny, using money donated for the purpose by their late commanding officer. They operate from different countries: Jeff Ryder is a professor of law at Columbia University in New York City, Tim Collier is an American reporter based in Paris, Ben Manfred is a crusading independent MP who works from London, and Ricco Poccari is an Italian hotelier based in Rome. Their reputation as the "Four Just Men" is well known. The series is unusual in having the four main actors appear alternately (except in the first episode); one or occasionally two makes a brief appearance in each other's episode, often using a telephone. 

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In a Danish village in 1623, an old woman known as Herlof's Marte is accused of witchcraft. Anne, a young woman, is married to the aged local pastor, Absalon Pedersson, who is involved with the trials of witches, and they live in a house shared with his strict, domineering mother Meret. Meret does not approve of Anne, who is much younger than her husband, being about the same age as the son from his first marriage. Anne gives Herlof's Marte refuge, but Marte is soon discovered in the house, though she is presumed to have hidden herself there without assistance. Herlof's Marte knows that Anne's mother, already dead at the time of the events depicted, had been accused of witchcraft as well, and had been spared thanks to Absalon's intervention, who aimed at marrying young Anne. Anne is thus informed by Herlof's Marte of her mother's power over people's life and death and becomes intrigued in the matter. Absalon's son from his first marriage, Martin, returns home from abroad and he and Anne are immediately attracted to each other. She does not love her husband and thinks he does not love her. Under torture, Herlof's Marte confesses to witchcraft, defined among other evidence as wishing for the death of other people. She threatens to expose Anne if Absalon does not rescue her from a guilty verdict, begging him to save her as he saved Anne's mother. Marte, after pleading with Absalon a second time, does not betray his secret and is executed by burning with the villagers looking on. Absalon feels his guilt over having saved Anne's mother, but leaving Marte to burn. Anne and Martin, clandestinely growing closer, are seen as having changed in recent days, fueling Meret's suspicion of Anne's character. Anne is heard laughing in Martin's company by her husband, something which has not occurred in their time together. Absalon regrets that he married Anne without regarding her feelings and true intentions, and tells her so, apologizing for stealing her youth and happiness. A violent storm erupts while Absalon is away visiting a dying young parishioner, Laurentius. He had been cursed by Herlof's Marte during her interrogation and she foretold an imminent death. Meanwhile, Anne and Martin are discussing the future, and she is forced to admit wishing her husband dead, but only as an "if" rather than it actually happening. At that moment Absalon, on his way home, feels "like the touching of Death itself." On Absalon's return, Anne confesses her love for Martin to her husband and tells him she wishes him dead. He collapses and dies, calling Martin's name. Anne screams. The following morning Martin is overcome by his own doubts. Anne declares that she had nothing to do with his father's death, which she sees as providential help from above to release her from her present misery and unhappy marriage. At Absalon's funeral, Anne is denounced by Meret, her mother-in-law, as a witch. Anne initially denies the charge, but when Martin sides with his grandmother she is faced with the loss of his love and trust, and she confesses on her husband's open coffin that she murdered him and enchanted his son with the Devil's help. Her fate appears sealed. 

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The story begins as Uncle Fred knocks off Sir Raymond Bastable’s top hat with a Brazil nut fired through the window of the Drones Club from a catapult. Sir Raymond assumes that the culprit was a young Drone, but is unsure how to respond, knowing that a letter to the Times would open him to ridicule, especially as he is about to stand for Parliament. Uncle Fred suggests writing a novel exposing the iniquities of the younger generation. The eventual novel, “Cocktail Time”, which Bastable publishes under a pseudonym, becomes a succès de scandale after being condemned by a bishop. Afraid of being unmasked as the author, Bastable allows his ne’er-do-well nephew Cosmo Wisdom to take the credit, and the royalties, of the book. With his friend Gordon “Oily” Carlisle, and Carlisle's wife Gertie, Cosmo plots to blackmail Bastable, and writes a letter revealing the true author of “Cocktail Time”. Much of the rest of the book is concerned with various characters’ attempts to get hold of the letter. The action moves to Dovetail Hammer, Berks, where Uncle Fred is staying with his godson Johnny Pearce. Johnny is in love with Belinda Farringdon, but needs £500 in order to marry her. Uncle Fred resolves to help, but for the time being is more concerned with retrieving the letter. It so happens that Sir Raymond Bastable is also living in Dovetail Hammer, with his sister Phoebe Wisdom, Cosmo’s mother, and Sir Raymond’s butler, Albert Peasemarch (who is secretly in love with Phoebe), as tenants of Johnny Pearce. Oily travels to Dovetail Hammer and attempts to blackmail Sir Raymond, but Uncle Fred manages to extract the letter by posing as Inspector Jervis of the Yard. He then blackmails Bastable into treating Phoebe more kindly by keeping the letter himself. Cosmo and Bastable discover that the movie rights of the book could be worth a fortune. Cosmo changes his mind, deciding that he’d like to be the author of "Cocktail Time" after all. Needing the letter back, Cosmo proceeds to Dovetail Hammer. Oily Uncle Fred unwisely gives the letter to Albert Peasemarch for safekeeping. However, while drunk, Peasemarch reveals the letter's location to Cosmo. As Cosmo retrieves the letter, Oily and Gertie attack him, knocking him out and steal the letter. She and Oily hide it in an imitation walnut cabinet, which is taken away to be auctioned. However, Uncle Fred finds the letter and removes it, allowing Oily and Cosmo to bid against each other fiercely. Uncle Fred extracts £500 from Sir Raymond in return for the letter, which he gives to Johnny, allowing Johnny to marry Belinda. Sir Raymond gets the movie rights to “Cocktail Time”, and marries his longtime admirer Barbara Crowe, while Albert marries Phoebe. 

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Nine months after the death of his adoptive father, Jack Davenport, a Chicago journalist, obtains some of his possessions which lead Jack to discover his past. Jack receives an assignment to do a story in Dallas, Texas. Jack leaves days before Christmas Eve and decides to stay in Clearwater, Texas, his birthplace. One of the possessions left by his adoptive father was a mysterious photograph of Clearwater's oldest churches, taken in 1963. The church has a life-sized, wood carven nativity scene, that was carved by Joe Ottolman during the 1950s. He meets several townspeople along his search, such as Michael Curtis (the reverend of the church who has adopted a little girl from China, much like Steven Curtis Chapman did in real life); Naomi Williams, a Clearwater newspaper writer; Vanessa, a County Courthouse employee; Jimmy James, Clearwater's sheriff; the judge; and a maintenance worker at the church. Jack is told by the judge that releasing the identity of an adoptee's parents can cause suffering, as he points out that one adopted girl died three years earlier. Jack goes on to research the story of Joe Ottolman, who was in a car accident in 1945 that killed his wife, but his daughter survived. Joe worked for ten years on the Nativity carving. In 1963, Joe made the same mistake and was in a car accident again. His daughter Carmen Ana Ottolman, gave birth to a boy on December 24, 1963, but Carmen died two days later. Joe set his grandson up for adoption, then he disappeared from the presses and no one knew whether or not he was alive. Naomi, who helped Jack gather information from previous newspapers, tried to get Jack's birth records with the help of her friend, Vanessa, who works there, but they are gone. When Jack finds this out, he discovers that the judge was trying to hide them from him. The judge then reveals that Carmen Ottolman was his mother. On his 40th birthday, Jack is still in shock of hearing this. He sleeps on the bench near the church, in front of the nativity scene. When the maintenance worker discovers him there, he brings him inside the church for some coffee. The maintenance worker then reveals himself to be Joe Ottolman, Jack's grandfather. That night, Jack's wife Megan arrives in Texas, and Jack tells her everything that happened. Megan reveals that they are going to be parents. On Christmas Night, the townspeople of Clearwater gather around the nativity scene while the reverend talks about it. After this, Jack tells his grandfather that he is going to be a great-grandfather. 

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While playing in a bar in St. Louis, jazz pianist Jigger Pine meets aspiring clarinetist Nickie Haroyen, who tries to convince him to put together a jazz band. After a drunk patron starts a fight, Nickie and Jigger, along with Jigger's drummer and bassist, are thrown in jail. They overhear a prisoner singing a blues song and are inspired to set out for New Orleans, where they hope to learn how to perfect an authentic bluesy sound. There they meet fast-talking trumpeter Leo and his wife, Character, who is a talented singer. Together, the quintet rides the rails, honing their technique in dive bars across the country. One day, while sheltering in a boxcar they meet a mysterious stranger named Del, who robs them. But when they don't turn him in to the authorities, Del is so impressed by their camaraderie, he offers them a job in a New Jersey roadhouse called The Jungle. The group discovers that the roadhouse is actually owned by Del's former partners in crime - aspiring singer Kay, accomplice Sam, and her crippled sidekick Brad. Del has escaped from jail to retrieve his share of a robbery the three committed; when Kay tells him they have spent all the money, he decides to take over The Jungle and transform it into an illegal gambling club. Kay tries to rekindle her past romance with Del, but he rejects her. She turns her attention to Leo in hopes of making Del jealous. Although the band is happy playing their brand of jazz each night at the club, Character is worried about Leo and Kay. When Jigger reveals to him that Character is pregnant, Leo decides to give up Kay. She subsequently sets her sights on Jigger, who is secretly in love with her and insists the band take her on as singer while Character is taking time off. Jigger reacts to Brad's warning that the musician should get her out of his system by saying, "I just don't think I can". Sam tries to get Kay to alert the police to Del's whereabouts. She tells Del about this, hoping that the fact that she refused to do it will win her Del's affection; instead, he orders Sam to be killed and Kay to leave The Jungle. She convinces Jigger to quit the band, go with her to New York City, and join a more commercial, mainstream jazz band. Although successful, Jigger is unhappy in his new life, feeling he is not playing authentic jazz. Kay lives on her own terms in New York, she goes out with different men and is not interested in Jigger's career with the band. One night, he tells her he has quit and wants to go back to his friends. He wants her to go with him but she tells him the only thing she would ever want from The Jungle is Del, that she has never been in love with Jigger. After Kay leaves him, Jigger descends into alcoholism. His friends find him and try to coax him into playing with them again. He tells them he is busy composing and has many big plans but, as he tries to demonstrate some of his music, he collapses with a mental breakdown. Everybody sticks by him, helping to nurse him back to health, though they are hiding the fact that Character's baby has died. They all return to The Jungle where Jigger plays again and rediscovers happiness. One night, during a rainstorm, both Jigger and Del notice Kay's return. Jigger speaks with her first. When Del comes in, Kay confronts him and demands he allow her to stay; he refuses so she threatens to turn him in herself. Del pulls a gun and Jigger comes to her defense. During the ensuing fight, Del drops the gun; Kay picks it up, shoot and kills him. Jigger decides to protect Kay and help her escape from the police; he tells her to go wait for him in Del's car. The band shows up; as they angrily assail Jigger with reasons to not leave with Kay, they reveal that Character lost the baby. They compare Jigger, his emotional and mental problems, with Brad being a cripple. They try to emphasize that, while Brad has no choice about his pathetic circumstances, Jigger certainly does. Brad overhears all this and joins Kay in the car, claiming that Jigger has asked him to drive her away. He takes off into the violent storm, talking about the two of them being together, and deliberately wrecks the car, killing them both. Jigger and the band return to their life on the road, happy to be again playing their preferred version of jazz. 

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The Planet Express crew's latest mission is to deliver a crate to Professor Farnsworth's office at Mars University. While touring the campus, Bender comes across a chapter of his old fraternity, Epsilon Rho Rho (Err). The nerdy fraternity brothers beg Bender for his help in the art of being cool, as "even Hillel has better parties than us!" Fry finds out that his 20th century college dropout status is equivalent to only a 31st-century high school dropout. Knowing this, he vows to enroll, and drop out all over again. In a scene straight from Animal House, Bender and the Robot House boys climb a ladder to peek in a girls' dorm window (in reality, they only try to see one of the girls' computers as it malfunctions, which to Bender and the nerd-bots is a turn-on). A risque mishap happens when Bender's extendable eyes causes them to fall. The accident crushes Snooty House's servants' quarters and presumably the servants themselves. Fry gets a room in the financial aid dorm, and finds his roommate Günter is an intelligent monkey wearing an undersized hat. The Professor enters, and reveals that Günter was the content of the crate, and that the electronium hat is the source of Günter's intelligence. Bender and the Robot House members get called before Dean Vernon, who places them on dodecatuple secret probation and have to run out after Fatbot eats the Dean's model ship. At the parents' reception, Fry humiliates Günter by releasing Günter's unintelligent, feral parents from their cage. Later, Günter expresses his unhappiness at his current life. At the 20th century history exam, the stress finally becomes too much for him, and he tosses the hat aside, jumps out the window, and flees into the Martian jungle. While Fry, Leela, and the Professor head off into the jungle to find Günter, Robot House enters the fraternity raft regatta in a bid to lift their probation status. When Günter is found, the Professor offers him the hat, and Fry offers him a banana. Before Günter can decide, Robot House speeds past with Bender on water skis. The boat's wake drags the humans into the river and towards a waterfall. Günter puts the hat on and rescues them, but falls off a cliff. The Planet Express Crew believe him to be dead, and go to "gather him up". They find however, that the hat broke his fall, and is now only working at half- capacity. Günter announces that he likes the new reduced-capacity hat, and that he has decided to transfer to business school, to the horror of Professor Farnsworth. Robot House wins the regatta, and a parade in their honor is held, led by an unhappy Dean Vernon. The episode ends with a party at Robot House, and an epilogue shown in the style of Animal House and American Graffiti where captions explain that Fry successfully dropped out of college and returned to Planet Express, Günter went to business school to get his MBA and became The FOX Network's latest CEO, Fat-Bot caught a virus in Tijuana and had to be rebooted, Leela went on a date with Dean Vernon (and Vernon never called her again), and with his task done, Bender stole everything of value from Robot House and ran off. 

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The episode opens in the year 1999, with Fry making a pizza delivery to the control booth of WNYW, New York's Fox flagship station. While there, Fry spills beer on the console (later in the episode, Amy did some research, saying it was a Coke), interrupting the broadcast of Single Female Lawyer (a spoof of Ally McBeal). As the technician panics, Fry ominously states, "Like anyone on Earth cares." The camera pulls back from the broadcast tower, away from Earth, and through the depths of space, settling on Omicron Persei 8, a thousand light-years away and a thousand years later. Incensed that they do not get to see the end of the episode, the Omicronians launch an invasion fleet. Back on Earth during the year 3000, the off-duty Planet Express crew decides to take a trip to Monument Beach for Labor Day, where most of the world's monuments have stood since the 27th century (thanks to the activities of New New York's super villain governor), when the Omicronians begin to invade, destroying them all one after another. Lrrr, ruler of Omicron Persei 8, demands that the Earth produce "the one called McNeal". President McNeal, fearing for his own safety, orders Zapp Brannigan to lead an assault against the alien invaders, enlisting the Planet Express crew and thousands of other ships, and turning on the Robot's patriotism circuits, to Bender's annoyance. However, they only succeed in blowing up the Hubble Space Telescope while suffering heavy casualties: the fleet stands no chance against the actual alien mother ship. After the attack predictably ends in disaster, Earth's government hands over President McNeal. Lrrr announces that he is the wrong McNeal, and vaporizes the President. Lrrr shows the world a photo of the McNeal they want, and Fry recognizes her as Jenny McNeal, the title character of Single Female Lawyer. The Omicronians demand the broadcast of the television show, or they will destroy the Earth. Unfortunately, most videotapes were destroyed in 2443, during the second coming of Jesus. The Planet Express crew decides to fake the show in order to save the world. Fry's script comes up short (he explains that it took an hour to write, so he assumed it would take an hour to perform), and Leela (as Jenny), is forced to improvise. She proposes marriage to the judge (played by Professor Farnsworth). During a commercial break, an aggravated Fry tells Leela that people do not watch TV for clever and unexpected situations because they get scared and confused by the unfamiliar and the unexpected. Lrrr makes a public statement backing up Fry's assertion. Fry quickly writes an ending where the judge (Farnsworth) dies (even though the judge did not know what was going on and tests his pulse), leaving Jenny McNeal as a single female lawyer again. The Omicronians, satisfied with the ending, give the episode a C+, saying the show was good enough for them to spare the planet, though not good enough for them to give humans their secret to immortality (Fry blames it on Zoidberg "overacting"). The episode ends with the aliens departing Earth to watch a 1000-year-old Jay Leno monologue and Fry stating that the secret to a successful television show is that everything ends up back to normal at the end of each episode. Ironically, the camera pans out to a view of New New York burning in ruins. 

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The episode opens with an advertisement for Slurm, which is an intergalactic popular beverage that is fluorescent green. The makers of Slurm are announcing a contest: whoever finds a golden bottlecap inside a can of Slurm wins a free trip to the Slurm plant, a tour of the Slurm Factory, as well as a party with the popular Slurm mascot, Slurms McKenzie. Fry resolves to find the bottlecap by drinking massive quantities of Slurm. Meanwhile, Bender is sick with a high fever (900 °F); Professor Farnsworth uses this as an excuse to test his experimental "F-ray", a flashlight-like device that enables the user to look through anything, even metal. The Professor is able to find out what is causing Bender's high fever; he reveals a watch that belongs to Amy Wong caught in one of Bender's cogs. After repairing Bender, the Professor leaves the F-ray in the custody of Fry and Bender. Fry realizes that they could use the F-ray to scan Slurm cans for the golden bottlecap. After checking "90,000" cans, they give up on finding the winning can. Fry settles in to relax with a Slurm and chokes on the winning bottle cap. The Planet Express crew arrives at the Slurm plant on Wormulon. After meeting Slurms McKenzie, the crew takes a tour down a river of Slurm through the factory, and see the Grunka-Lunkas manufacture Slurm. Fry tries to drink the Slurm from the river due to his thirst, but he falls off the boat and remembers he does not know how to swim. Leela dives in to save him, and Bender joins them because "Everybody else was doing it." The three are sucked into a whirlpool and deposited in a cave under the factory. They discover that the factory they toured was a fake. They enter the real factory and discover Slurm's true nature: it is a secretion from a giant worm, the Slurm Queen. They are discovered and captured by the worms. Bender is placed into a machine designed to turn him into Slurm cans. Leela is lowered by crane into a vat of royal Slurm, which will turn her into a Slurm Queen. Fry is fed ultra-addictive "super-slurm", so that he cannot resist "eating until he explodes". Fortunately, Fry manages to drag the tub of super- slurm to the crane controls, so he can save Leela while continuing to drink the super-slurm. A freed Leela saves Bender slightly too late, leaving Bender with a hole through the side of his torso. Leela then saves Fry by dumping the super-slurm down a drainage grate. They manage to escape, but are pursued by the Slurm Queen. Slurms McKenzie, exhausted from his years of partying, arrives and sacrifices himself to save Fry, Leela, his two super models, and Bender. When they escape, the Slurm Queen yells that the company is ruined by the discovery of the secret. Professor Farnsworth contacts a government agent to reveal the secret of Slurm. However, Fry is so addicted to Slurm that he tells the government agent that "grampa's making up crazy stories again", so that it can continue to be produced. In the end, the entire Planet Express crew holds a toast to Slurms McKenzie and Slurm itself. 

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The episode opens with Fry and Bender playing a violent, futuristic version of chess, where Bender's bishop and Fry's knight fight. Fry wins, prompting Bender to send all of his chess pieces after Fry. The Planet Express crew arrives at the ribbon cutting of the new Democratic Order Of Planets (D.O.O.P.) headquarters in orbit around the Neutral Planet, in order to deliver the oversized scissors that will be used for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. After deciding the Neutral Planet is evil and deceptive, Zapp Brannigan captures and interrogates the crew, thinking that they are assassins. Shortly thereafter, he destroys the D.O.O.P. headquarters by attempting to use the Nimbus laser to cut the ribbon from space. At the former D.O.O.P. headquarters in Weehawken, New Jersey, Brannigan is court-martialed for his actions. Seeing the lack of proper testimony being given, Leela takes the stand to expose Brannigan as "the sorriest captain I've ever seen", but under cross-examination, Brannigan attempts to discredit her by getting her to confess their one-night stand. After a very short deliberation, the jury finds Brannigan guilty. Brannigan then unjustly claims that it was mostly Kif Kroker's idea. Both are stripped of all their titles and dishonorably discharged from D.O.O.P. service. Unable to find employment, the pair wander the streets until they arrive at the Planet Express building. Leela tries to turn them away, but Professor Farnsworth decides hiring Brannigan would be good for the company's public image. The augmented crew is sent to deliver pillows to a hotel on Stumbos 4, a high-gravity planet. Despite Leela's order to deliver one at a time, Fry, Bender, and Zapp decide to deliver all the pillows at once, which, in the intense gravity, causes the hover dolly to collapse. As punishment, Leela orders them to deliver the pillows by hand instead of using the backup dolly, which causes resentment among the crew. Fry, Bender, and Zapp stage a mutiny against Leela, and lock her in the laundry room. Brannigan decides to attack his imagined nemesis, the Neutral Planet, thinking this will make him a hero and get him reinstated as a D.O.O.P. captain. When Fry and Bender discover the plan is a suicide mission, they free Leela and she retakes command. With Fry and Bender's help, she foils Zapp's plan after he jumps ship with Kif. After returning to Earth, Leela testifies that Brannigan was an amazing hero, and D.O.O.P. reinstates Zapp and Kif, thus keeping them out of her life for a little while longer, since Kif annoys Leela with his complaints about working under Zapp. Leela also decides to be a bit more lenient with Fry and Bender, but when the Professor overrules this, the three decide to stage a mutiny against him. 

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Sansho the Bailiff is a jidai-geki, or historical film, set in the Heian period of feudal Japan, with the story depicted taking place in the latter part of the eleventh century on the Western time scale. A virtuous governor is banished by a feudal lord to a far-off province. His wife, Tamaki (Kinuyo Tanaka), and children, Zushiō and Anju, are sent to live with her brother. Just before they are separated, Zushiō's father tells him, "Without mercy, man is like a beast. Even if you are hard on yourself, be merciful to others." He urges his son to remember his words and gives him a statuette of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. Several years later, the wife and children journey to his exiled land, but are tricked on the journey by a treacherous priestess. The mother is sold into prostitution in Sado and the children are sold by slave traders to a manorial estate in which slaves are brutalized, working under horrific conditions and branded when they try to escape. The estate, protected under the Minister of the Right, is administered by the eponymous Sanshō (Eitarō Shindō), a bailiff (or steward). Sanshō's son Tarō (Akitake Kōno), the second-in-charge, is a much more humane master, and he convinces the two they must survive in the manor before they can escape to find their mother. The children grow to young adulthood at the slave camp. Anju (Kyōko Kagawa) still believes in the teachings of her father, which advocate treating others with humanity, but Zushiō (Yoshiaki Hanayagi) has repressed his humanity, becoming one of the overseers who punishes other slaves, in the belief that this is the only way to survive. Anju hears a song from a new slave girl from Sado which mentions her and her brother in the lyrics. This leads her to believe their mother is still alive. She tries to convince Zushiō to escape, but he refuses, citing the difficulty and their lack of money. Zushiō is ordered to take Namiji, an older woman who is acutely ill, out of the slave camp to be left to die in the wilderness. Anju accompanies them, and while they break branches to provide covering for the dying woman, they recall their memories of their earlier childhood. At this point Zushiō changes his mind and asks Anju to escape with him to find their mother. Anju asks him to take Namiji with him, convincing her brother she will stay behind to distract the guards. Zushiō promises to return for Anju. However, after Zushiō's escape, Anju commits suicide by walking into a lake, drowning herself so that she will not be tortured and forced to reveal her brother's whereabouts. After Zushiō escapes into the wilderness, he finds his former mentor, Tarō Sanshō's son at an Imperial temple. Zushiō asks Tarō to take care of Namiji, who is recovering after being given medicine, so that he can go to Kyoto to appeal to the Chief Advisor on the appalling conditions of slaves. The Head Priest writes a letter for him as proof of who he is. Although initially refusing to see him, the Chief Advisor realizes the truth after seeing the statuette of Kannon that Zushiō has with him. He then tells Zushiō that his exiled father died the year before and offers Zushiō the post of the governor of Tango, the very province where Sanshō's manor is situated. As Governor of Tango, the first thing Zushiō does is to issue an edict forbidding slavery both on public and private grounds. No one believes he can do this, since governors have no command over private grounds. Although Sanshō offers initial resistance (having his men destroy the signs which state the edict), Zushiō orders him and his men arrested, thus freeing the slaves. When he looks for Anju among Sanshō's slaves, he learns that his sister has sacrificed herself for his freedom. The manor is burned down by the ex-slaves, while Sanshō and his family are exiled. Zushiō resigns immediately afterwards, stating that he had done exactly what he had intended to do. Zushiō leaves for Sado where he searches for his aged mother, whom he believes is still a courtesan. After hearing a man state that she has died in a tsunami, he goes to the beach she is supposed to have died on. He finds a nearly blind, decrepit old woman sitting on the beach singing the same song he heard years before. Realizing she is his mother, he reveals his identity to her, but Tamaki, who has gone blind, assumes he is a trickster until he gives her the statuette of Kannon, which she recognizes by exploring it with her fingers, in spite of her blindness. Zushiō tells her that both Anju and their father have died and apologizes for not coming for her in the pomp of his governor's post. Instead he followed his father's proverb and chose mercy toward others by freeing the slaves held by Sanshō. He tells his mother he has been true to his father's teachings, which she acknowledges poignantly. 

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The election race for President of Earth is in full swing, with two identical clones as the only candidates. Leela, appalled by the apathy of the Planet Express crew, exhorts them to register to vote. Meanwhile, a mining disaster sends the price of titanium through the roof, and Bender seizes the opportunity to make a quick buck by pawning his 40% titanium body. As a head with a pile of cash, Bender begins enjoying his new lifestyle. During a trip to the Hall of Presidents in the New New York Head Museum, Richard Nixon's head ruins Bender's illusions about the glamour of a life without a body. The next day Bender heads off to the pawn shop to retrieve his body, but it has been sold. Later, Nixon's head announces its candidacy for President of Earth, using Bender's body to escape a constitutional provision that "nobody can be elected more than twice". Fry, Leela, and Bender take off to Washington, D.C. to stop Nixon and recover Bender's body. Directly confronting Nixon fails to recover Bender's body, so the crew infiltrates Nixon's room at the Watergate Hotel. Leela successfully separates the sleeping head from the robot body, but Fry accidentally wakes Nixon. Confronting the intruders, Nixon begins ranting about his future plans for Earth, such as breaking into people's homes and selling their children's organs to zoos. However, Bender records the conversation and knowing that the tape would ruin his election chances if released, Nixon trades the body for the tape. On Election Day, Nixon wins by a single vote. He regained the robot vote by replacing Bender's body with a giant war robot. Meanwhile, Leela and Fry forgot to vote against him. The episode ends with Nixon on a rampage and crashes through the exterior walls 

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Since Springfield is "in the grip of lottery fever" with a $130 million jackpot, the Simpsons fail to notice that their pet dog, Santa's Little Helper, is ill. Once Kent Brockman wins the lottery, the Simpsons realize the dog is sick. The family rushes him to the animal hospital, where they learn that he has a twisted stomach and needs a $750 operation. Homer tells Bart and Lisa that the family cannot afford the operation, but after seeing how much they love the dog decides he will find a way to pay for it. To save money for the operation, the Simpsons must make sacrifices: Homer stops buying beer and Bart gets his hair cut at a barber school. Marge must cook with lower-quality food and forgo her weekly lottery ticket. Lisa can no longer afford volumes of Encyclopedia Generica, and Maggie's tattered clothes must be repaired instead of replaced. The family saves enough money for the operation, which is a success. The Simpsons are glad that their dog survives, but soon they start to feel the strain of their sacrifices. The family's morale suffers and they direct their anger at Santa's Little Helper. Feeling unwanted, he runs away from home on an adventure, only to be captured, taken to the dog pound and adopted by Mr. Burns, who trains him to be one of his vicious attack hounds. After a brutal brainwashing process, Santa's Little Helper is turned into a bloodthirsty killer. The family soon regrets mistreating the dog, and Bart goes from house to house to find him. When he arrives at Mr. Burns' mansion, Santa's Little Helper starts to attack him. After recalling all the good times he had with Bart, Santa's Little Helper reverts to his friendly nature toward the boy. He protects Bart from Burns's pack of snarling hounds and returns to the Simpson family, who shower him with love. 

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This Korean drama is based on the Korean folktale Kongji and Patzzi, and turns it on its ear. The traditional story is somewhat like a Korean version of Cinderella where Kongji is the nice girl who in the end gets the prince, and Patzzi (or Patjwi/Patji) is the hot-tempered and nasty girl that everyone detests (like an evil stepsister). In this take on the story, Patji, though still hot-tempered, is a kind and caring girl deep down, and Kongji, though she appears to be nice and caring, is actually very nasty and constantly plots to make Patji look bad. The show starts off with the younger versions of Song-yee (Jang Na-ra), Hee-won (Hong Eun-hee) and Hyun-sung (Kim Rae-won) at elementary school. Song-yee quite obviously likes Hyun-sung, and when Hee-won finds out about it, she tells Song-yee that she will not like the same guy Song-yee likes. Later, during a class exercise, when the teacher asks the children to choose a boy to sit with for the new seating arrangement, Song-yee immediately grabs Hyun-sung's hand. Hyun-sung is startled, but it is Song-yee's turn to be surprised when Hee-won walks right up to the two of them and extends her hand to Hyun-sung. She then kindly states that he doesn't have to go with her if he doesn't want to. Hyun-sung takes a moment, looks at Song- yee who forcefully took his hand, then looks to Hee-won who gently proposed to take his. Making his choice, he breaks away from Song-yee and takes Hee-won's hand. Naturally, Song-yee isn't too happy about this. Furious, she throws her shoe at Hee-won and then proceeds to beat her up. The show then fast forwards to years later, when the children have grown up... After a somewhat disastrous school play, Song-yee gets fired from her job. Song-yee, a member of the school staff, has the children perform an altered version of Patji and Kongji, where Patji in fact wins the prince's love after he discovers that Kongji (Kim Jaewon), the pretty one, is manipulative and fake. Turning this classic folk tale upside down upsets the school and the parents, resulting in her being fired. Hee-won, seeing that she needs new employment, helps Song-yee to get a job at the amusement park where she works. (This amusement park is very obviously in many respects modeled after Everland.) There, Song-yee is given the job as a mascot, having to wear a hot suit with a huge head (think Mickey Mouse at Disney World). Song-yee, who is naturally hot-tempered, doesn't enjoy this job too much, and is seen by Hyun-sung (who also works at the amusement park) and his friend, Yang Sam-yeol, bullying some kids after they touched her chest. After an initial chase, they catch her and are surprised to find out she's a girl. The two boys are waiting for Song-yee after she gets changed into her regular clothes, and Hyun-sung and Song-yee get into a verbal fight. It is then that Hee-won comes up to the both of them, calms them down, and walks off with Song-yee. Hyun-sung pauses for a moment, then remembers Hee-won and chases after them. As he talks with Hee-won, Song-yee realizes who Hyun- sung is and is a little hurt he doesn't remember her, but doesn't have time to dwell on it as Hyun-sung and Hee-won go off to catch up with each other. It isn't only Hyun-sung who likes Hee-won, though. His friend, Sam-yeol, fell for her at first sight and schemes to make Hee-won fall for him by pretending to like Song-yee. Over the next few days, Hyun-sung and Song-yee continue to have confrontations, though he begins to see a somewhat gentler side of her as she really thinks that Sam-yeol likes her. Needless to say, when she finds out that he only pretended to like her because he wanted Hee-won, she doesn't take it very well and once again decides to unleash her wrath. While planning to merely do a little damage to a float, she inadvertently causes it to catch on fire as Seung-joon is taking it for a spin. Seeing that he needs help, she ends up saving him and causing him to fall in love with the "angel" who rescued him. He doesn't know who she is, but has her coat and so he uses that to look for her. In addition to winning Seung-joon's affection, Hyun-sung begins to see her in a new light as they eventually become friends. Hee-won, seeing that two men have fallen for Song-yee, proceeds to do what she does best, and tries her hardest to steal Seung-joon from her while making Song-yee look bad in the process, though Seung-joon might be harder to steal than she originally expected. And is Seung-joon the one Song-yee really wants to be with? 

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Sara Crewe, the daughter of wealthy British aristocrat Ralph Crewe, has spent her entire life living in India after the death of her mother. Knowing she needs proper European schooling, her father brings Sara to an elite boarding school in London where her mother had been educated. Crewe spares no expense ensuring Sara will be as comfortable as possible while she is there. Before bringing Sarah to England, Mr. Crewe lends his old friend, Carrisford, a significant amount of his fortune to invest in a diamond mine in Africa. Sara and her father arrive in London and meet the school's owner and headmistress, Miss Minchin. After a tearful farewell, Sara's father departs and she begins her education. Sara quickly befriends the other students, as well as the school's servant girl, Becky, who is ignored by everyone else. On the return trip, Mr. Crewe catches pneumonia. Arriving back at his estate in India, he receives a letter from Carrisford, telling him the diamond mine was empty, and his fortune has been lost. The stress of this worsens his illness and he dies soon after. In London, Miss Minchin is informed by Crewe's lawyer that she will be receiving no money henceforth due to Crewe's bankruptcy. Minchin has already amassed heavy expenses for Sara's birthday with lavish gifts and decorations, having hoped to extort more money from her father, and is furious when she finds out she'll have to pay for them out of her own pocket. Since Sara has no living relatives, Minchin considers throwing Sara out on the street, but is advised against this by Crewe's lawyer, who reminds her how poorly it would affect her reputation. She decides to turn Sara into a servant, making her clean and work in the school where she was once a student. Sara is moved out of her luxurious room and sent to live in the attic with Becky. She continues to be sweet, gentle and kind to everyone, even to Miss Minchin, despite her dire circumstances and cruelty. Meanwhile, Mr. Crewe's friend, Carrisford, had received false reports about the diamond mine. It was, in fact, a great investment, making him very wealthy. Knowing that half of the diamond fortune belongs to his friend, he immediately tries to contact him. Upon finding that Crewe has died, Carrisford, distraught, begins searching for Sara. Carrisford has returned to England and actually lives right next door to Miss Minchin's school, but has never met Sara and assumes she is just a servant girl. Crewe never told him exactly where Sara was attending school, only that it was a boarding school in Europe which her mother had attended. Carrisford has his solicitor, Carmichael, whose children have constant interactions with Sara as they live opposite Miss Minchin's, start searching schools all over Europe in hopes of finding her. After searching numerous cities, including Paris, St. Petersburg, Lisbon, and Vienna, Carmichael says he cannot make any more trips himself. Carrisford remains guilt-ridden over what happened to his friend, and vows to keep looking until he finds Sara. One morning, a monkey climbs into Sara's attic room. The monkey belongs to Ram Dass, Carrisford's Indian servant. Sara brings the monkey next door to return him, and remarks about Ram Dass being a Sikh, and how she met many Sikhs while growing up in India. When Carrisford asks how she came to be a servant at the school, she tells them how she used to be a pupil, but became a servant when a friend lost all of her father's money just before he died. Sara sees a statue of Kali in Carrisford's parlour, and says it looks just like one her father had owned. When Carrisford asks what her father's name was, she tells him, "Crewe...Ralph Crewe." Stunned, Carrisford tells her the statue actually was her father's, and that he is the friend whom it had been thought lost Ralph Crewe's fortune, and he has been searching all over Europe for her. Yet all this time, she had been just next door. Carrisford tells Sara that half of his large fortune rightfully belongs to her, and that she doesn't have to return to the school. Miss Minchin arrives, assuming her servant to be bothering the neighbours, and demanding that she return to the school. Carmichael explains the situation, and chastises Minchin for her cruelty. Carrisford tells Sara that she is welcome to stay with him as long as she likes and that he will arrange private tutors to finish her schooling. Carrisford also rescues Becky, who becomes Sarah's personal maid. 

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Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews) is the sweet, kind and caring daughter of Captain Richard Crewe (Liam Cunningham), a wealthy aristocrat living in India. Sara's mother died along with her baby sister when she was very young, and she has to leave her beloved childhood home and friends when her father volunteers to fight for the British Army as an officer in World War I. Captain Crewe enrolls Sara at a girls' boarding school in New York and instructs the perfidious headmistress Miss Maria Minchin (Eleanor Bron) to spare no expense making sure his daughter will be comfortable while he is away. He has reserved her the school's largest suite and gives Sara a special locket of her mother's picture, and a French doll named Emily, telling her that if she wants to talk to him, just speak to Emily and he will hear it. Though she finds the strict rules and Miss Minchin's harsh attitude stifling, Sara becomes popular among the girls, including the scullery maid Becky (Vanessa Lee Chester), for her kindness and powerful sense of imagination. She writes constant letters to her father, which are a great source of happiness for him on the battlefield. Due to a body being misidentified, Captain Crewe is declared dead when he is actually seriously injured and suffering from amnesia, and the British government seizes his company and assets. When Miss Minchin hears the news, she is in the middle of throwing a lavish birthday party for Sara, hoping to extort more money from her father. When Crewe's solicitor arrives and tells her there will be no more money, Miss Minchin is furious. Since Sara is now penniless and has no known relatives, Miss Minchin decides to move her to the attic with Becky to work as a servant where she will report to Mabel (Peggy Miley) at 5 a.m. Miss Minchin also confiscates most of Sara's personal belongings, including her locket, as compensation for her financial losses. Meanwhile, the elderly neighbour Charles Randolph (Arthur Malet) has received word that his son John, who is also fighting in Europe, is missing in action. He is asked to identify a soldier suffering from amnesia, but he is discouraged to discover it is not John. His Indian assistant Ram Dass (Errol Sitahal) encourages him to take in the man anyway, reminding him that he may know what happened to his son. Though her life is bleak, Sara remains kind to others and continues to hold onto her belief that all girls are princesses. Sara and Becky later play a chimney prank on Miss Minchin after she scolds a young chimney sweep boy (Jonás Cuarón). Sara even shows sympathy toward Miss Minchin's sister Amelia (Rusty Schwimmer). Ram Dass, who lives in the attic of the Randolph house, is brought to notice Sara and Becky by the household's monkey and hears Sara telling imaginative stories to Becky. He mentions the girls to his employer, saying he would like to make some of their imaginings come true. When the girls later sneak up to visit Sara and are caught by Miss Minchin, Sara protects her friends by saying she invited them. As punishment, Miss Minchin locks Becky in her room and assigns Sara to perform both Becky's and her own chores for the next day without anything to eat for both of them. She even taunts Sara over believing she is still a princess. But when Sara stands up to Miss Minchin, saying that all girls (including herself) are princesses despite their miserable lives, she angrily threatens to throw her out into the street if she's seen with the girls again. After Miss Minchin storms out, to distract them from their hunger, Sara and Becky imagine a huge banquet, with themselves warmly and attractively dressed, and a pleasant fire burning in the grate. The next day, they wake to find the dream has come true, all having secretly been brought over by Ram Dass. Later that night, Amelia sneaks out of the school and runs off with the milkman. When Miss Minchin notices Sara's locket is missing (having been stolen back by the other girls as a gift to Sara), she goes to Sara's room and confronts her in a rage. After she discovers all the finery left by Ram Dass, Miss Minchin accuses Sara of stealing everything and summons the police. With Becky's help, Sara narrowly avoids arrest by perilously climbing over to the Randolph house. Having failed to catch Sara, Miss Minchin insists the police arrest Becky for interfering with them. While hiding from the police, Sara comes across the soldier and realizes he is her father. Captain Crewe, though sympathetic to the girl, does not recognize her at all. As she tries to make him remember, Miss Minchin and the police arrive with Ram Dass and Mr Randolph. Though Miss Minchin clearly recognizes Crewe, she falsely claims that Sara has no father and commands the police officers to seize her, choosing revenge over the truth. As the police are about to take Sara away along with Becky, Crewe suddenly regains his memory with help from Ram Dass and rescues his daughter. Miss Minchin angrily walks away in defeat. Sometime later, Captain Crewe has cleared things up with Miss Minchin's superiors and the bank. The boarding school is given to Mr Randolph, and his efforts make it a much happier place for the girls. The Crewe family's wealth is restored to them and they adopt Becky. Captain Crewe tells Mr. Randolph his son died in a gas attack, giving the man closure. As retribution for her perfidy and cruelty to Sara and Becky, Miss Minchin loses her current title and high position and is reduced to a chimney sweeper, now working for the chimney sweeper boy she previously mistreated (who appears to be enjoying his revenge on Minchin). The film closes with Sara and Becky waving farewell to their former classmates as their carriage departs from the school and the family begins their return to India. 

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The Little Princess (full film) Captain Crewe (played by Ian Hunter), called to fight in the Second Boer War, has to leave his daughter Sara (Shirley Temple) with her pony at Miss Minchin's School for Girls. With all the money Captain Crewe can offer, Miss Minchin gives Sara a fancy, private room. Although worried about her father, Sara is distracted by riding lessons. It is during these riding lessons that Sara helps contrive meetings between Miss Rose (Anita Louise), her teacher, and Mr. Geoffrey (Richard Greene), the riding instructor, who is also the grandson of the mean-spirited next door neighbor, Lord Wickham (Miles Mander). Sara hears news that Mafeking is free and expects her father will soon come home. Miss Minchin throws Sara a lavish birthday party. During the party, Captain Crewe's solicitor (E. E. Clive) arrives with the sad news that Captain Crewe has died and his real estate, the basis for his wealth, has been confiscated. Miss Minchin ends Sara's party abruptly. Without her father's financial support, Sara becomes a servant, now working at the school she used to attend. Sara gains new solace in a friendship with Ram Dass (Cesar Romero) who lives next door. She also receives support from Miss Minchin's brother, Hubert, who does not agree with her treatment. Miss Rose and Mr. Geoffrey are found out and fired. Geoffrey joins the military. In her new role, Sara gets hungrier and more tired from her arduous duties and sneaks off to veterans' hospitals, convinced her father is not dead. After a string of episodes, including a performance of the film's most well-known song "Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road", Sara is at her wits end. Things start to worsen, when Sara gets into an argument with Miss Minchin, who cannot tolerate her faith in believing her father is still alive and tries forcing her to face reality. She later receives taunting from Lavinia (Marcia Mae Jones) the next day, eventually causing her to lose her temper and dump ashes on her. Miss Minchin arrives in the attic to punish Sara for "hurting" Lavinia. She discovers blankets that Ram Dass left Sara, assumes they are stolen, and locks her in the attic, calling the police. Sara escapes and runs to the hospital with Minchin in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, the hospital is preparing to transfer a newly arrived patient, who is unable to communicate except to repeatedly say, "Sara, Sara"; it is Captain Crewe, but "his papers have been lost" and no one knows who he is. Sara is initially barred from entering the hospital but sneaks in, only to burst in upon a visit by Queen Victoria (Beryl Mercer), who grants her permission to search for her father. During her search, she is reunited with a wounded Mr. Geoffrey and Miss Rose. Sara searches the wards unsuccessfully, but happens upon her father as she hides from Miss Minchin and the police. Miss Minchin, who pursued Sara to the hospital, is appalled that her brother thinks Sara is innocent. A staff member announces Sara has found her father, Miss Minchin exclaims: "Captain Crewe is alive?!" to which her brother retorts, "Of course he's alive! How could she find him if he wasn't alive?" The film ends with Sara helping her father stand as the Queen departs. 

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As described in a film magazine, Sara Crewe (Pickford) is treated as a little princess at the Minchin boarding school for children until it is learned that her father has lost his entire fortune, and she is made a slave (a household servant). She and Becky (Pitts), another slave, become close friends who share their joys and sorrows. Christmastime draws near and the girls watch the preparations wistfully. Their loneliness arouses the sympathy of a servant of the rich Mr. Carrisford. On the night before Christmas he prepares a spread for the slaveys in their attic. He calls his master Mr. Carrisford (von Seyffertitz) to watch their joy, but both are witness to the slaveys being abused and whipped by Miss Minchin (Griffith). Carrisford interferes and learns that Sara is the daughter of his best friend. He adopts Sara and Becky and in their new home they have a real Christmas. The film opens with Sarah's father moving back to London after serving in the British Army in India. She is opposed to leaving the luxurious life of an officer's child with a large house and many servants, and is initially shy when enrolled in Miss Minchin's School. Her reputation as "the little princess" precedes her and the other girls are fascinated with her tales of life in India. The girls sneak into Sarah's room at night to listen to her stories. One night, she tells "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" which becomes a story within a story with elaborate exotic sets and costumes. When Miss Minchin is informed that Sara's father has died and lost his fortune, she is stripped of her possessions and accommodations, forced to work as a servant and live in the attic with Becky, the school's existing servant girl. While the other students and Miss Minchin treat Becky poorly, Sara had always been kind and generous and the two become close friends. Mr. Carrisford is the school's neighbor; his house is so close it is possible to walk across the cornices from his attic window to Sara and Becky's. Mr. Carrisford's Indian servant loses his pet monkey, which escapes to Sara. Upon their meeting he realizes she had spent time in India in a wealthy family and takes pity on her circumstances. While the girls work tirelessly to prepare a Christmas feast for the students and staff, Mr. Carrisford's servant lays out a banquet for Sara and Becky, with an elaborate tablecloth and silver. Miss Minchin discovers this and accuses them of stealing, but are interrupted by Carrisford and his servant crossing the cornice. Carrisford learns Sara's identity and reveals himself to have been her father's best friend, who had persuaded him to invest his fortune in a risky business venture. He died believing he was destitute and had been betrayed by his friend, while Carrisford had been ill and was unable to arrive in time to tell him that the venture was a success. Sara was the heiress to a million pound fortune. In the final scene, Becky and Sara are invited to live with Mr. Carrisford and they host a Christmas party for a group of poor children. Sara's parents (as ghosts) look on approvingly. 

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As described in a film magazine, Anne Shirley (Minter), whose orphan career has been a lively one due to her natural mischievousness, is sent by mistake to the home of Marilla Cuthbert (Harris) and her brother Matthew (Burton). The brother and sister had decided to adopt a boy to help around their farm, but decide to keep Anne anyway. Her early youth is a series of misfortunes or "scrapes." During this time she meets Gilbert Blythe (Kelly) and their love for each other begins. When Anne has graduated from high school and is happily looking forward to college, Matthew dies and Marilla is struck blind. She takes a position in the village as a school teacher. Gilbert has taken up medicine during this time. Despite the ill luck that continues to follow her, Anne manages to save enough and pays for an operation that restores Marilla's vision. Then she and Gilbert are married. Lucy Maud Montgomery hated the film because of what she called "absurdities." According to Montgomery, the flag of the United States was prominently displayed at Anne's graduation from her Canadian college. At another part, Anne encountered a skunk and mistook it for a kitten. However, skunks did not exist on Prince Edward Island at the time the film took place or came out, and only happened to be introduced by a farmer later. The film also contained a scene where Anne punished a child. Afterward, Anne brandished a shotgun to fend off an angry mob that congregated at her schoolhouse door on the child's behalf. A summary of the film was published in the April 1920 issue of Moving Picture Aid, including four stills which have survived. 

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As described in a film magazine, Rebecca Randall (Pickford) is taken into the home of her aunt Hannah (Eddy), a strict New England woman. Rebecca meets Adam Ladd (O'Brien), a young man of the village, and they become great friends. One day Rebecca promises to marry Adam when she becomes of age. Unable to withstand her pranks any longer, her aunt sends her away to a boarding school. She graduates a beautiful young lady. Shortly thereafter, Adam demands a fulfillment of her promise. 

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Anne Shirley is an orphan who has been adopted by farmer Matthew Cuthbert (O.P. Heggie) and his sister, Marilla (Helen Westley). Although the pair were expecting a young boy to help on their farm, Anne endears herself to them and to the local villagers. She befriends Diana Barry and most of the children at her school except for Gilbert Blythe after he calls her 'carrots' and she smashes her slate over his head. She and Diana have a bet that Anne can flirt with Gilbert, and he will fall head over heels in love with her. Little do they know, Gilbert overheard them and already has fallen in love with her. Anne flirts with him, which becomes unsuccessful, and Diana wins the bet. Anne lies to Gilbert that she has a boyfriend to make him jealous, but she only ends up embarrassing herself. Shortly after, Anne is playing the Lady of Shalott when she realizes her boat is sinking, and Gilbert sees her and saves her life. She then decides to forgive him and give him a reward for saving her. She will kiss him. Gilbert is surprised. Anne thinks he doesn't want to claim his reward, but he tells her he does and that he wants her to be his girl. For three years they have an affair, but Mrs. Barry spies on them and tells Marilla. Marilla does not want Anne to even talk to Gilbert because his mother broke Matthew's heart. Anne and Gilbert are both devastated, and Matthew is upset with Marilla because it wasn't she who got her heart broken. Anne goes to college. Diana, who now is married, visits Anne and tells her that Matthew is ill. She returns to Green Gables, finding out it's for sale to save Matthew because he needs the best doctor in Halifax. She remembers Gilbert is studying with this doctor, so she goes to see Gilbert. He tries flirting with her, and she eventually gives in and finds out that Gilbert heard about Matthew and begged the doctor to save him for free, which he did. After Marilla finds out what he had done, she forgives the Blythes and lets Anne and Gilbert see each other again. 

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Set in the small-town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, Canada, elderly siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert agree to adopt an orphan boy to help tackle chores around their family farm. When Matthew arrives at the train station to pick up the boy, he is surprised to confront an 11-year-old orphan girl named Anne Shirley. Anne's enthusiastic personality wins over Matthew's heart who reveals to Marilla he still wants to adopt her even though the circumstances aren't ideal. While Marilla is not keen on the idea, after a period of time, she agrees to keep Anne. Despite growing up alone as an orphan, Anne finds the simple joys that life has to offer. She has a wild imagination and kind spirit, while her manners lack standard social acceptance. Due to a subpar education, she unintentionally defies proper and polite manners. She makes many mistakes to be expected by an 11-year-old girl. Anne meets a smart young boy, Gilbert Blythe, at their local school who she builds a rivalry against when he calls her names and makes fun of her natural red hair– a sensitive topic for Anne. A teacher recognizes Anne's talents and intelligence quickly and encourages her to join a school club (designed for exceptional students) to prepare for an entrance exam at the prestigious university, Queen's Academy. She soon earns a scholarship which would pay her four years through school. Anne's foster father Matthew dies of a heart attack while her foster mother Marilla is said to go blind. She then lets go of her dream of a wealthy education and stays in Avonlea to care for her beloved foster mother. Gilbert overhears the news and decides to withdraw from his teaching career at Avonlea school so that Anne can take his position and be closer to her family. This random act of kindness creates a lasting friendship for Anne and Gilbert. Although Anne's dreams may seem as though lost, Anne believes there is much to look forward to in this beautiful thing called life.http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/anneofgreengables/summary/ 

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The young Fanny and the "well meant condescensions of Sir Thomas Bertram" on her arrival at Mansfield Park. A 1903 edition Fanny Price, at age ten, is sent from her impoverished home in Portsmouth to live as one of the family at Mansfield Park, the Northamptonshire country estate of her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram. There she is mistreated by all but her elder cousin Edmund. Her aunt Norris, the wife of the clergyman at the Mansfield parsonage, makes herself particularly unpleasant. When Fanny is fifteen, Aunt Norris is widowed and the frequency of her visits to Mansfield Park increases, as does her mistreatment of Fanny. A year later, Sir Thomas leaves to deal with problems on his plantation in Antigua, taking his spendthrift eldest son Tom. Mrs Norris, looking for a husband for Maria, finds Mr Rushworth, who is rich but weak- willed and considered stupid, and Maria accepts his proposal. The following year, Henry Crawford and his sister, Mary, arrive at the parsonage to stay with their half-sister, the wife of the new incumbent, Dr Grant. With their fashionable London ways, they enliven life in Mansfield. Edmund and Mary then start to show interest in one another. On a visit to Mr Rushworth's estate, Henry flirts with both Maria and Julia. Maria believes Henry is in love with her and so treats Mr Rushworth dismissively, provoking his jealousy, while Julia struggles with jealousy and resentment towards her sister. Mary is disappointed to learn that Edmund will be a clergyman and tries to undermine his vocation. Fanny fears that Mary's charms are blinding Edmund to her flaws. After Tom returns, he encourages the young people to begin rehearsals for an amateur performance of the play Lovers' Vows. Edmund objects, believing Sir Thomas would disapprove and feeling that the subject matter of the play is inappropriate for his sisters. But after much pressure, he agrees to take on the role of the lover of the character played by Mary. The play provides further opportunity for Henry and Maria to flirt. When Sir Thomas arrives home unexpectedly, the play is still in rehearsal and is cancelled. Henry departs without explanation and Maria goes ahead with marriage to Mr Rushworth. They then settle in London, taking Julia with them. Sir Thomas sees many improvements in Fanny and Mary Crawford initiates a closer relationship with her. Fanny, led by Henry Crawford at her celebration ball. When Henry returns, he decides to entertain himself by making Fanny fall in love with him. Fanny's brother William visits Mansfield Park, and Sir Thomas holds what is effectively a coming-out ball for her. Although Mary dances with Edmund, she tells him it will be the last time as she will never dance with a clergyman. Edmund drops his plan to propose and leaves the next day. So too do Henry and William. When Henry next returns, he announces to Mary his intention to marry Fanny. To assist his plan, he uses his family connections to help William achieve promotion. However, when Henry proposes marriage, Fanny rejects him, disapproving of his past treatment of women. Sir Thomas is astonished by her continuing refusal, but she does not explain, afraid of incriminating Maria. To help Fanny appreciate Henry's offer, Sir Thomas sends her to visit her parents in Portsmouth, where she is taken aback by the contrast between their chaotic household and the harmonious environment at Mansfield. Henry visits, but although she still refuses him, she begins to appreciate his good features. Later, Fanny learns that Henry and Maria have had an affair that is reported in the newspapers. Mr Rushworth sues Maria for divorce, and the Bertram family is devastated. Tom meanwhile falls gravely ill as a result of a fall from his horse. Edmund takes Fanny back to Mansfield Park, where she is a healing influence. Sir Thomas realises that Fanny was right to reject Henry's proposal and now regards her as a daughter. During a meeting with Mary Crawford, Edmund discovers that Mary only regrets that Henry's adultery was discovered. Devastated, he breaks off the relationship and returns to Mansfield Park, where he confides in Fanny. Eventually the two marry and move to Mansfield parsonage. Meanwhile, those left at Mansfield Park have learned from their mistakes and life becomes pleasanter there. 

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In 1865, a week before the surrender of Confederate forces of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate Navy ship CSS Texas is being loaded at a dock with crates supposedly filled with documents. The ship's captain, Mason Tombs, has been ordered to take the ship past a Union blockade and to any neutral harbor where she should dock until summoned by a courier. At the last minute the secretary of the Confederate navy and an admiral arrive and mention that he will be taking a prisoner on board. Tombs is shocked when the prisoner arrives under heavy guard with Confederate soldiers in Union uniforms - a prisoner who appears to be Abraham Lincoln. The ship gets under way and is battered by the Union navy while trying to run the blockade, until Tombs brings the prisoner onto the deck, and the Union soldiers stop firing and salute. In 1931, Kitty Mannock is flying over the Sahara in quest of a new aviation record. A sand storm fouls her carburetors and she is forced to land in the desert. She manages to touch down on level ground, but the plane reaches the edge of a ravine and tips over. A search is launched, but she is never found. In 1996, a convoy of tourists are crossing the Sahara on a fleet of Land Rovers when they reach a scheduled stop at a village in the country of Mali. They find it is unusually deserted, and as they are refreshing themselves at the village well they are attacked by red-eyed savages who kill and eat them. Only the tour guide escapes with his life. Meanwhile, working in Egypt on an archaeological mapping of the Nile, Dirk Pitt is able to rescue Dr. Eva Rojas, a scientist working for the World Health Organization, from a mysterious attacker. Shortly thereafter, Eva flies to Mali with an international team of scientists to investigate a mysterious disease that has been reported from various desert villages. At the same time, Pitt and his best friend Al Giordino are hurriedly flown to a research vessel outside the coast of Nigeria. There they are informed by their boss, Admiral James Sandecker, of an algal bloom, in this case a red tide, that is growing unnaturally fast, and threatens to consume the world's oxygen supply and extinguish almost all life. The growth speed is suspected to be fueled by some type of pollutant. Dirk, Al and Rudi Gunn are ordered to cruise up the Niger River to search for the pollutant, and determine where it enters the river. They do this aboard the Calliope, a high- performance super-yacht, equipped with comprehensive scientific laboratories, several weapon systems, and an array of communication equipment. The cruise is all well until reaching Benin, where they are forced to engage the Benin navy, which is completely destroyed. The continued trip is calm. They identify the pollutant, and at last find the spot where it appears in the river--but there is no chemical facility in the vicinity, and in fact no sign of anything entering the river. By now, the Malian armed forces are on their way, along with the Malian dictator General Zateb Kazim, who wishes to seize the yacht for his own use. After dropping Gunn off to make a run for the Gao airport, Pitt and Giordino let the yacht self-destruct after jumping overboard and swimming to the houseboat of the ruthless French businessman Yves Massarde. On his yacht, they manage to contact Admiral Sandecker about Gunn's escape before being captured by Massarde. A UN rescue team picks Gunn up at the airport. After some interrogation at the houseboat, Pitt and Giordino manage to steal Mr Massarde's helicopter, which they fly north to Bourem, dumping the chopper in the river. Here they find (and steal) General Kazim's ancient car, an Avions Voisin. They drive the Voisin north, into the desert, toward the chemical waste processing facility Fort Foureau, the only facility that could possibly leak the pollutant into the river. En route to the detoxification facility, Pitt and Giordino run into an American nomad who is searching for a supposed sunken Civil War ironclad. They hide the car and sneak into the facility, only to be captured by Mr. Massarde's security guards, but not before they discover that the processing facility is just a disguise for an underground waste dump sitting right above an underground river, which flows under the sand to the Niger. Massarde decides to send them to Tebezza, a secret gold mine shared with General Kazim, where prisoners dig for gold under appalling conditions. Here they also find the WHO team, which had been coming too close to the truth about the diseases they were investigating, as well as the French engineers that were contracted to build the processing facility. Dirk and Al manage to escape from the mine, driving 300 km to the east, trying to reach the Trans-Sahara Route. When the gas runs out, they have to walk. They find a cave painting of a Civil War-era monitor, which could not have been drawn in such detail without having seen it. They also find a lost 1930s-era airplane, which they rebuild into a sand yacht. They determine that the crashed airplane had been flown by legendary record-breaking Australian pilot Kitty Mannock, whose disappearance was worldwide news at the time, overshadowed only by that of Amelia Earhart. Mannock's body is lying with the plane, along with her diary, which details her attempts at walking out, her discovery of "an odd ship in the sand", her taking shelter inside the ship, and her eventual return to her plane in a vain hope for rescue. Mannock survived for ten days, and from her diary Pitt and Giordino are able to determine how long she walked from the plane, and in which direction, giving them an area to search for the lost ironclad. Using the sand yacht they built from Mannock's plane, they finally reach the Trans-Sahara Route and are picked up by a passing truck on the way to Adrar, Algeria. They quickly reach Algiers, from where they inform Admiral Sandecker about the appalling situation in Tebezza. The UN team that rescued Rudi Gunn earlier is dispatched to Alger to pick up Pitt and Giordino, and is then flown to Tebezza. They successfully attack Tebezza and close it for good, but not before an alarm is sent to General Kazim. An aircraft from the Malian air force is sent there to investigate, and destroys the UN aircraft just as the team returns from the mine. They are now stranded, and decide to make a run for the real Fort Foureau, a French Foreign Legion fortress that gave the waste processing plant its name, and plan to later hijack a waste train to carry the team and the rescued prisoners to safety in Mauritania. While at the fortress their presence is discovered and the trains are stopped. Giordino and a commando use a stripped attack buggy to reach a US Delta unit in Mauritania, while the Malian army attacks the fortress with everything they have. After severe losses for both sides, the Delta unit comes to the rescue aboard a train, quickly defeating the Malian army and killing General Kazim. Now Pitt and Giordino borrow an attack helicopter and go to take over the Fort Foureau facility. They also force Mr. Massarde to lie out in the desert sun naked for three hours, after which he drinks several litres of water which was secretly polluted from the waste dump. They then let him board his chopper and leave, knowing that he will not survive. In the end, the waste dump is cleaned up, the water pollutant is removed and the red tide growth rate decreases. The rescued Tebezza prisoners are treated for malnutrition and various injuries. The ironclad, which turns out to be the Texas, is dug up and the lost airplane is restored and placed in a museum. Dirk Pitt also ships general Kazim's Avions Voisin to his own car collection. It is revealed that the conspiracy theory about Lincoln being on the Texas was true: Lincoln was abducted during a coach ride by Confederates dressed in Union uniforms, led by a Captain Neville Brown (who claimed he'd kidnapped Lincoln on his deathbed in 1908). It turned out Stanton knew of the kidnapping and, fearing public anger, covered it up by hiring John Wilkes Booth to stage the Lincoln Assassination (with another actor as a double for Lincoln). Jefferson Davis planned to use Lincoln to force the Union to negotiate, but Stanton turned him down. Determined not to make a martyr out of Lincoln, Davis put him on board the Texas. After the ship was lost, Davis never told anyone about the kidnapping of Lincoln, fearing Northern anger. The crates of documents carried by the Texas were actually the Confederacy's treasury, which was to be smuggled to another country where a government in exile was to be established and the war continued. 

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The book opens with would-be stud-for-hire Joe Buck getting ready to leave his rural Texas town, recalling the events that set him upon his sordid path. Joe's mother, who might or might not have been a prostitute, frequently leaves him with a succession of blondes, either his aunts or other prostitutes, until he is about 9 and she drops him off to live with his grandmother, Sally Buck. During these years he becomes sexually attracted to fleshy blondes. During his mid-teens Joe loses his virginity to Annie, a girl who would regularly take on six boys at a time on a dirty mattress behind a movie theater screen, each waiting patiently in line for his turn. Joe was the first boy she ever enjoyed having sex with, leading to a secret relationship that is squelched when one of Annie's many jealous “users” alerts her father to his daughter's activities and he swiftly institutionalizes her. Upon Sally's death while Joe is serving in the army, he loses all sense of direction and security. Joe befriends a local hustler named Perry, a beautiful young man who schools Joe in the art of dominating one's “tricks” and gets him stoned on marijuana for the first time. It is very clear that Perry wants to have sex with Joe — and that Joe is attracted to Perry but is confused and dishonest with himself about how to handle it. Perry eventually takes Joe to a Tex-Mex whorehouse. While Joe is having spirited sex with an underage Mexican whore, he realizes that his efforts are being watched by the house's madam, her fat gay half-Indian son, and Perry. They try to coax Joe into continuing, but a furious Joe attacks Perry, only to be pulled off the hustler by the big gay man, at which point Joe is raped by both the fat man and Perry. Joe is so traumatized by the rape that he now no longer cares whom he has sex with, male or female. Once in New York, Joe proves a failure as a hustler, and soon finds himself barely surviving while serving a mainly gay clientele. Out of desperation, he takes up with Rico "Ratso" Rizzo, a crippled con man and Joe's would-be pimp. The two form a tenuous friendship, but they still fail to make any money. Their dire poverty and Rizzo's rapidly-failing health soon force Joe to rob a client in order to afford a bus ticket to Florida, where Rizzo has always dreamed of going. But Rizzo dies of pneumonia on the bus to Miami, leaving Joe completely alone in the world. 

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Anita King, Michelle Cheung and Maggie Mui run the "Paper Sisters Detective Company" in Hong Kong. They serve a variety of clients, seeking lost books, pets, and even lost authors! Maggie and Michelle's expansive book budget often causes them to be out of money, and when they are not working they argue with Anita about how to maintain the apartment and eat. In volume 1, the Paper Sisters help fix a romance by finding a lost book, find the Shangri-la of libraries, convince an alien not to destroy the world, help a girl with a serious illness find the courage to undergo a risky treatment, and battle the greatest horror of all horrors: cleaning their own apartment. Volume 2 finds Anita on her own trying to help a client, only to discover that the client is a thief known as "Lily the Book Lover Extraordinaire" and Anita must fight her to get back what the thief has stolen; in another chapter, the sisters tell each other ghost stories, and in the final set of chapters, the Detective Company helps an author Yun Fat track down his favorite writer from his childhood. In volume 3, Maggie finds a book which divides her psyche into 24 different personalities, and Michelle and Anita need to find a way to restore her; in another story, the Sisters argue about how to earn more money, and later, after they become successful, Michelle puts on too much weight, so her sisters try to force her to diet. Anita gets sick and Maggie takes care of her. Finally, Lily returns to threaten young Japanese author Hisami Hishishii, but fortunately Hisami has the Paper Sisters to protect her. In the final volume, the Paper Sisters are brought to Japan to do more bodyguard work for Hisami, but end up first trying to "stage" a pretend first kiss for Hisami (with Anita as the unwilling "actor" playing Hisami's crush), and later, under her editor's instructions, try to protect Hisami from would-be suitors. The next story flashes back to how the Paper Sisters met: Dokusensha agents Maggie and Michelle were hired to help the company's genetic lab creation, Anita, to bring forth her powers. When Dokusensha tries to take Anita back, Maggie and Michelle take on Dokusensha's Hong Kong branch by themselves to rescue her from the evil corporation. The comic then returns to the present as several supporting characters' arcs are wrapped up, and Anita gets advice on the meaning of loving books from a mysterious spectacle-wearing bibliophile. 

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Told through flashback, ex-convicts Perry Smith and "Dick" Hickock meet in rural Kansas in the fall of 1959. Together, they concoct a plan to invade the farm home of the wealthy Clutter family, as patriarch Herbert Clutter supposedly keeps a large supply of cash in a wall safe. The two criminals break into the home in the middle of the night but are unable to find any safe, as Herbert uses checks for his personal business and his farm operations. In order to leave no witnesses to their robbery attempt, Smith and Hickock kill Herbert by cutting his throat, and proceed to murder his wife, Bonnie, and their two teenage children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 14, with a shotgun. Their bodies are discovered the next day, and a Finney County sheriff's and Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) investigation is immediately launched, headed by detective Alvin Dewey. Based on a tip by a former cell mate of Hickock, the two men become the primary suspects for the Clutter murders. The fugitives elude law enforcement by heading to Florida, traveling southwest across the country, and eventually crossing the Mexican border. After two weeks in Mexico, the two return to the United States, and decide to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, hoping to earn money in gambling winnings. Shortly after their arrival to Las Vegas, Smith and Hickock are arrested for driving a stolen car, violating parole, and passing bad checks. The Las Vegas Police Department and the KBI later separately interrogate the two men about the Clutter murders. Both Smith and Hickock admit to passing bad checks, but both deny knowing anything about the murders. The KBI attempts to scare the men into confessing, claiming that they left a witness behind who can testify against them. The KBI interrogation, however, is slowed by Smith's refusal to provide answers. Next, the KBI confront the two with evidence, such as a bloody footprint matching the boots worn by Smith. Finally, Hickock relents, confessing that he was present, but that Smith carried out the murders. He begs for immunity from the death penalty. After Smith learns that Hickok has confessed, he recounts how, it was in fact he, not Hickock, who wielded the knife and pulled the trigger in all four killings, but maintains that Hickock was present as an active accomplice. Both Smith and Hickock are charged with first-degree murder, found guilty on all counts, and each sentenced to death by hanging. On the day of their executions, Smith begs a jail guard to allow him to use the toilet beforehand, having heard that hanged men defecate themselves. The guard initially denies it, but then relents. Both men are hanged for their crimes as the prison staff watch. 

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L.A. police detectives Cal Bruner (Steve Cochran), a rogue cop, and Jack Farnham (Howard Duff), his family-man partner, get in over their heads when they decide to split up thousands of dollars they found on a recently killed counterfeiter. To make matters worse, they are assigned by their police captain to look for the missing cash. Things get even worse when a blackmailer enters the picture and one cop gets romantically involved with Lili Marlowe (Ida Lupino), a money-hungry nightclub singer, who fingered the hot money- passer at the racetrack. Farnham decides to turn honest and hand the money over to his superiors, but the other cop decides to take it all. 

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Loosely based on the 1826 novel The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, the series was released under several different names, including Hawkeye and The Last of the Mohicans. The series was set in New York's Hudson Valley in the 1750s but was filmed in Canada. The end credits state that the series was filmed in Canada with the cooperation of The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The series had a more realistic view of America than most series of the times. The settlers were rough and dressed in old but suitable clothes for the long hard winters in the small settlements of the new frontier. The Native Americans were more realistically portrayed too, as an intelligent people with good and bad individuals among them. Fights in the film needed more than just the odd blow as the opponents hit hard at each other, and torture was used in a number of episodes. Weapons used were normally single shot rifles and tomahawks (which often ended up in someone's back). Furs were often a motive of crime as they were the currency of the northern settlements. 

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The film starts where L'armata Brancaleone has ended. Brancaleone da Norcia (again played by Vittorio Gassman) is a poor but proud Middle Ages knight leading his bizarre and ragtag army of underdogs. However, he loses all his "warriors" in a battle and therefore meets Death's personification (a clear parody of Bergman's Seventh Seal). Having obtained more time to live, he forms a new tattered band. When Brancaleone saves an infant of royal blood, they set on to the Holy Sepulchre to bring him back to his father, Bohemond of Taranto (Adolfo Celi), who is fighting in the Crusades. As in the first film, in his quest he lives a series of grotesque episodes, each a hilarious parody of Middle Ages stereotypes. These include: the saving of a young witch (Stefania Sandrelli) from the stake, the annexion of a leper to the band, and a meeting with Gregory VII, in which Brancaleone has to solve the dispute between the pope and the antipope Clement III. On reaching Palestine, Brancaleone obtains the title of baron from the child's father. He is therefore chosen as a champion in a tournament to solve the dispute between the Christians and the Saracens in the siege of Jerusalem. The award for the winner is the former leper, who is in fact revealed to be a beautiful princess, Berta, who adopted the disguise to travel to the Holy Land in relative safety. After having nearly defeated all the Moor warriors, Brancaleone is however defeated by a spell cast on him by the witch, who, having fallen in love with him, could not stand seeing him married with the princess. He therefore starts to wander in despair through the desert, and again Death comes to claim her credit: Brancaleone, brooding and world weary as he is has no qualms about dying but asks to be allowed to die in "knightly" fashion, in a duel with the Grim Reaper itself. Death agrees and the confrontation begins...after a fierce exchange of blows Brancaleone is about to be cleft by Death's scythe but is ultimately saved by the witch, who gives her life for the man she loved. 

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An elderly woman sits on a bell as it rocks back and forth, while a servant in blackface pulls at a rope. A dandified gentleman appears at the top of a stairway and doffs his hat to the lady; he smiles and courts her attention. She does not respond, but the servant hangs himself. The scene changes to an darkened interior: the gentleman sits at a grand piano and plays, but something is wrong. He opens the piano's lid and finds the woman lying inside, dead. He leafs through a number of tombstone-shaped cards with different inscriptions - "Sleeping", "At Rest", "With The Lord" - and finally chooses one that says "The End". 

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Allegra Steinberg, daughter of movie producer Simon Steinberg and television writer Blaire Scott, is a successful entertainment lawyer who seems to have the perfect life. She has a satisfying career and is surrounded by people she loves, including her boyfriend, Brandon, her sister Samantha, an aspiring model, and her best friend, Alan Carr, a Hollywood heartthrob. While on a business trip in New York City, she meets writer Jeff Hamiliton, and although there is chemistry between the pair, Allegra does not pursue the attraction. However, after she discovers that Brandon has been cheating on her, she meets up with Jeff, and before long, the couple is engaged and planning a wedding at her parents Bel Air home. As their September ceremony looms, Allegra finds herself faced with many business, romantic and personal problems, including a pregnancy in the family, the death of a client and the return of her father. The wedding becomes a chance for forgiveness, hope and reconciliation. 

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Woodrow "Woody" Wilkins is an imaginative, yet eccentric, comic book writer and illustrator who demands a sense of realism for his comic book hero "Condorman", to the point where he crafts a Condorman flying suit of his own and launches himself off the Eiffel Tower. The test flight fails as his right wing breaks, sending him crashing into the Seine River. Later after the incident, Woody is asked by his friend, CIA file clerk Harry, to perform what appears to be a civilian paper swap in Istanbul. Upon arriving in Istanbul, he meets a beautiful Soviet woman named Natalia Rambova, who poses as the Soviet civilian with whom the exchange is supposed to take place, but it is later revealed that she is in fact a KGB spy. Woody does not tell Natalia his real name, and instead fabricates his identity to her as a top American agent code-named "Condorman". During the encounter, Woody fends off a group of would-be assassins and saves her life by sheer luck before accomplishing the paper trade. Impressed by Woody, and disgusted by how she was treated by her lover/boss Krokov when she returns to Moscow, Natalia decides to defect and asks the CIA to have "Condorman" be the agent that helps her. Back in Paris, Woody's encounter with Natalia inspires him to create a super heroine patterned after her named "Laser Lady". He is then notified by Harry and his boss Russ that he is to escort a defecting Soviet agent known as "The Bear". Woody refuses to do the job, but when Russ reveals that "The Bear" is Natalia, he agrees to do it on the condition that the CIA provides him with gadgetry based on his designs. Woody meets up with Natalia in Yugoslavia and protects her from Krokov's henchmen led by the homicidal, glass-eyed assassin Morovich. After joining Harry in Italy, the trio venture to Switzerland, where Natalia discovers the truth about Woody when a group of children recognize her from his comic books. Their journey back to France is compromised when Morovich puts Woody and Harry out of commission and Krokov's men recover Natalia before retreating to their headquarters in Monte Carlo. Woody is told that the mission is a failure and he and Harry are ordered to return to Paris, but Woody asks Harry for two more days to conduct an operation to rescue Natalia. Disguising themselves as Arab sheiks, Woody and Harry create a diversion at the Monte Carlo Casino to recover Natalia from Krokov and his men. As Harry drives away in a Rolls-Royce, Woody uses an improved version of his Condorman suit to fly himself and Natalia out of the casino and onto the pier, where the trio make their getaway aboard the Condorboat. They manage to destroy Krokov's speedboats following them, but Krokov and Morovich pursue them in their own speedboat. The Condorboat reaches its pick-up point, but Morovich shows his intent on ramming it. When Morovich ignores his commander's orders to return to base, Krokov abandons ship. The Condorboat is lifted by the CIA helicopter in time to prevent a collision, causing Morovich to crash on an island rock. Days later, Woody, Natalia and Harry are at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where they see the Goodyear Blimp flash a sign welcoming Natalia to the U.S. Aboard the blimp, Russ contacts Harry and has him ask Woody if he is interested in taking Condorman to another assignment. 

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The plot involves an alien race losing a precious crystal that contains all of their recorded history, split into nine pieces and hidden throughout Earth's solar system. While out walking Pluto, Mickey Mouse stumbles upon a spaceship sent by the aliens and is charged with searching the planets (and several moons) for the pieces of the crystal. 

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The girls are cooking Thanksgiving dinner, while the guys watch football. When the girls complain that the guys are not helping, they start discussing the game. Joey suggests the gang play a game of football in the park. Rachel and Phoebe think this is a great idea – even though neither of them have ever played football before. Chandler refuses at first, since he is still distraught over his breakup with Janice. Joey points out that Chandler has not wanted to do anything since the breakup, and this will be an excellent way to start getting over her. Monica and Ross initially refuse too – they had been banned from playing football by their parents. Every year, they used to have a touch football game called the "Geller Bowl". During Geller Bowl VI, Monica broke Ross's nose – thus spurring the banishment, and their father throwing the "trophy" in a lake. They finally decide one game could not hurt, and go to the park to play. Monica and Ross name themselves team captains – Monica picks Joey and Phoebe; Ross picks Chandler and Rachel, who was upset that she was picked last. Then, she gets upset because Ross keeps telling her to "go long." It does not take long for the Geller siblings' rivalry to come out, and they spend the game at war with each other. Monica reveals that she fished the "Geller Cup" – a Troll doll nailed to a 2x4 – out of the lake while Ross was taken to the emergency room. They decide to play for the "Cup", and Rachel gets even more upset when Ross "trades" her to Monica's team for Joey. Joey and Chandler meet a pretty Dutch girl named Margha, who is in the park because her roommate is having sex with a businessman. They spend the game competing for her affections. Ross, sick of their fighting, asks her to pick one. She picks Chandler, after it is revealed that Joey does not know where Dutch people come from, but rescinds her choice when Chandler starts gloating. During the last play of the game, Monica throws it to Rachel – who almost scores a touchdown. Once the gang realizes the ball is still in play, Monica and Ross dive for the ball and refuse to let go. They end up staying there most of the night, while the rest of the gang goes back to the apartment to enjoy dinner. Rachel and Phoebe had so much fun playing football, they wonder if there is a league they can join in their free time away from work. Meanwhile, Ross and Monica briefly stop their fight to admire the snowfall. 

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Marco del Monte is a young Republican artist living in sixteenth century Renaissance Florence. The city is ruled by the tyrant Duke de Medici. Marco's girlfriend is Angelica, a beautiful former pickpocket. Sandro is Marco's friend and confidant. Machiavelli is the Duke's advisor, and Captain Rodrigo is the head of the Medici forces. The series depicts the struggles of the Republicans to combat the attempts of the Duke to strengthen his position and make himself a dictator. 

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Sam Whiskey (Burt Reynolds), an adventurer and rogue in the Old West, is seduced by widow Laura Breckenridge (Angie Dickinson) into promising to retrieve $250,000 in gold bars from a riverboat that sank in Colorado's Platte River. The gold had been stolen by Laura's late husband from the Denver Mint and replaced by plated lead fakes. She offers Sam $20,000 to recover and return it before the theft is discovered and her family name is ruined. Sam enlists the help of Jedidiah Hooker (Ossie Davis), a local blacksmith, and O. W. Bandy (Clint Walker), an Army friend turned inventor, offering them shares of the reward. They locate the sunken riverboat, unaware that they are being watched by Fat Henry Hobson (Rick Davis) and his gang. The gold is fifteen feet below the river's surface, so Bandy fashions a diving helmet for Sam out of a bucket and bellows, but Fat Henry and his gang capture Jed and Bandy. Thinking they have drowned Sam, hiding in the riverboat's smokestack, they recover the gold and prepare to kill their captives. With the help of one of Bandy's homemade machine guns, Sam frees his partners and they start for Denver with the gold. Just as they are tempted at a crossroads to head for Mexico with their haul, Laura shows up to greet them. Assuming the identity of a government inspector, Sam enters the mint and deliberately damages a gold-plated bronze bust of George Washington displayed in the lobby. He then insists on having it repaired and takes it to a blacksmith's shop, where Jed makes a mold of the bust and recasts the recovered gold. Fat Henry later breaks into the shop and steals the bronze original, thinking that it was made by Sam and his men to disguise the pilfered bars. Sam returns the new bust to the mint, and his men, posing as plumbers, conceal themselves until nightfall when they meltdown the bust and recast it into gold bars. On a train leaving Denver the next morning, Sam splits the $20,000 with Jed and Bandy but keeps Laura for himself. 

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The TARDIS lands by mistake in London on a parallel Earth. The trip has caused all of the TARDIS apart from a small power cell to die. The Doctor energises the cell with some of his own lifeforce. The cell needs 24 hours to fully recharge before the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey can return home. Rose is shocked to see a billboard with her father Pete's picture on it. Mickey decides to head off on his own to try to find his grandmother, who died in his universe years earlier after falling down the stairs. The Doctor and Rose discover that most of the population of London wear EarPod devices that feed information directly into the wearer's brain from Cybus Industries, which owns Pete’s company Vitex. Meanwhile, the head of Cybus Industries, John Lumic, tries and fails to gain approval from the President of Great Britain for his plan to "upgrade" humanity by placing their brains into metal exoskeletons. Unknown to everyone else, Lumic has already been secretly turning homeless people into Cybermen. Cybus is being investigated by a group called the Preachers, who have been receiving secret information about Lumic's technology. Jake Simmonds, one of the Preachers, witnesses a group of homeless people being taken to be converted and goes to collect help. Jake finds Mickey at his grandmother's house, and confuses him with his parallel counterpart Ricky. Jake takes Mickey to the Preachers’ base where Ricky and Mickey meet. After some initial distrust, Mickey decides to join the Preachers as they follow the Cybus vans that kidnapped the homeless to Pete's wife Jackie's birthday party. Rose and the Doctor also investigate the party and don servant garb to disguise themselves. Suddenly the party is interrupted by the Cybermen, who smash into the house and surround the guests. Lumic calls the President, who is in attendance, telling him that he is moving forward with his plans and that all of humanity will be upgraded. Lumic tells everyone that upgrading is compulsory. A Cyberman deletes the President for refusing to comply, declaring that he is not "compatible". The partygoers panic, try to flee and the Cybermen begin deleting them. The Doctor, Rose, and Pete escape the house and encounter Mickey and the Preachers outside. As the group is surrounded by Cybermen, the Doctor tells everyone to surrender and tells the Cybermen that they are volunteering for the upgrade. The Cybermen tell them that they are "incompatible" and will be deleted. 

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The story is set on the island of Sicily, where the Saint is confronted with the Italian Mafia. The story shows a slightly older, more mature Saint. Although still a formidable opponent for any criminal, he will not storm into action but choose his moments more carefully. At the beginning, Simon Templar is on holiday in Naples when a small uproar on a lunch table draws his attention. An English tourist attempts to greet an Italian businessman as an old friend, but the Italian refuses to acknowledge the greeting and claims never to have met him. When the bodyguard of the businessman attacks the Englishman, the Saint intervenes and immobilizes the bodyguard. The Italians make their retreat and the Saint and the Englishman make their introductions to each other. The Englishman, Euston, claims that the Italian Businessman was his old friend Dino Cartelli. When Euston takes his leave, the Saint gives the incident no second thought. The next morning, the Saint's attention is drawn by an obituary in the local newspaper of an English tourist by the name of Euston. Apparently the man had an unfortunate accident. Remembering the previous day's incident, the Saint is unable to accept this and starts an investigation into the identity of the businessman. He discovers that Dino Cartelli was known as a faithful bank employee, who was brutally murdered by bank robbers. Apparently, his face and hands were mutilated beyond recognition. He also learns that the businessman with the bodyguard goes by the name of Alessandro Destamio. The next day, a limousine stops at the hotel and the Saint is courteously invited to have a meeting with Mr. Destamio. He is flown to Destamio's private island, and Destamio introduces himself as a businessman with many enemies who takes his privacy very seriously. When back in Naples, the Saint is attacked by a street robber. He simply neutralizes the man, but both he and the robber are brought to a police station for questioning. The Saint receives an extremely cool reception by the police officials, who ask him why he has mutilated an Italian citizen. Luckily for the Saint, a higher ranked inspector by the name of Ponti shows up, who discards the Saint without hesitation and even recommends him a good restaurant for lunch. After leaving the station, the Saint goes to the indicated restaurant because he realizes the recommendation by Ponti was a hidden invitation. There the two men meet. Ponti reveals to the Saint the true nature of his troubles: he faces war with the notorious Mafia. They will try to hunt him down and the police cannot be trusted. Ponti will be his only ally. The next move of the Saint is to visit the family of Destamio, including the lovely Gina Destamio. At night, he visits the mausoleum of the Destamio family, but before he can investigate the grave inscriptions he is clubbed unconscious. The Saint finds himself captured in a castle, at the mercy of the Mafia. Before Destamio can question him he is brought to the head of the Mafia, who is seriously ill. It appears Destamio aims to be his successor, but he has to defeat other candidates who wonder why Destamio has brought the Saint to their headquarters. It appears that Destamio claims to be from a worthy family, which the Saint might dispute. After being brought back to his cell, the Saint manages to untie his ropes and climbs out of the antique dungeon. Pursued by several gangsters, he descends from the castle hill and starts running through the Italian countryside. During the chase, the Saint has brief encounters with locals who help him, but their fear of the Mafia is all-apparent. A local barber manages to conceal him and tells him to leave as soon as possible. Bus passengers on the Palermo bus stay clear of him, realizing he is on the Mafia's hit list. The Saint manages to reach Palermo and contacts Ponti. Then the tables can be turned. Ponti has mobilised a secret military strike force, ready for battle and very grateful to learn from the Saint the location of the Mafia headquarters. The Saint joins the small army when they attack the castle. Although the castle is surrounded, the Mafia succeeds in breaking through the perimeter with a bullet-proof car. The army commander and the Saint and Ponti start the pursuit. When they cross through Palermo, they discover they have chased the car too long and the head men must have sneaked out. When driving back, the Saint leaves the car and sends Ponti to call reinforcements. The Saint enters the house were the Mafia top men have gathered. He is able to corner them, but before he can thoroughly question Destamio he is again surprised by one of the guards. After that the army troops arrive and although several top men are arrested, Destamio again escapes through a back garage. The Saint realizes he can only go to one other place and sets off for the Destamio mansion. There he finally confronts Destamio, who is trying to gather his personal belongings before going under. Confronted by the Saint, he admits his real name is Dino Cartelli. He offers the Saint a bribe in return for his freedom. The Saint lets him go, straight into the hands of arriving police troops. 

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After having reached the Maze of the Beast and finding the amethyst, they continue their journey off to the Valley of the Lost to retrieve the seventh and final gem, the diamond. The seven gems are the lost gems from the Belt of Deltora, which had been stolen by the Shadow Lord to overthrow Lief's country, Deltora. The three travel along the river Tor, passing villages that have been raided by pirates. When they stop for a rest, they see a pirate ship. Realizing that it was the ship that a boy named Dain was captured aboard upon, they steal a rowboat in an attempt to rescue him. After Dain and a polypan climb into their boat, the polypan rows against the flooding currents of the river away from the pirates and toward shore. The polypan jumps out of the boat before the boat reaches the shore, and Lief, Barda, Jasmine, and Dain are floating adrift the violently overflowing river. They drift over a sand bar and arrive at the edges of Tora, a great city that Dain had been trying to travel to. They enter the city, and Dain is significantly weakened by the magic of the purifying entrance. They meet two Resistance members, Doom and Neridah after finding the city deserted. Neridah travels with the trio to the Valley of the Lost to find the seventh gem. Upon entering the valley, they meet the Guardian, who doesn't use physical force, but games to protect the diamond. The Guardian enchants them to enter his castle, and asks them to play a game with him for the diamond. The winner of the game will keep the diamond, but the loser will have to be kept in the valley forever. Scared by this, Neridah runs away, leaving the three behind to play the game. Lief, Barda, and Jasmine manage to find all of the clues and guess the name before the time is up, and realize that the Guardian's name is Endon, the king of Deltora. They also find out that Doom had been there before and won the game, but did not take the gem because of his shock when he realized that the Guardian was actually the king. Lief, Jasmine, and Barda find out the gem is not the real diamond, and leave the castle to find Neridah had stolen it. The diamond curses those who gain the gem by theft, and Neridah dies by tripping on a rock and drowning in a stream. After the trio retrieves the gem, the Valley of the Lost disappears and all of the creatures in it are replaced by people, who reveal themselves to be the people of Tora. They had been turned into their form because they broke a vow that they had sealed by magic by turning King Endon away when he sought refuge with them, as they had no wish to draw the Shadow Lord's forces to them but did not consider the consequences of this action. The Guardian turns into Fardeep, a mere man from Rithmere, but not Endon. The name Endon was actually the Shadow Lord's idea, and was intended to trick any winners of the game. Knowing that they have all seven gems, the three travel with Dain back to Del to find the king who will put on the Belt to banish the Shadow Lord from Deltora. 

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Lief, Barda, and Jasmine had retrieved the emerald from Dread Mountain. They travel along the River Tor to get to the Maze of the Beast, where they will get the amethyst. The gems they are taking are part of a Belt of Deltora, which will defeat the Shadow Lord that has invaded Deltora. During their travel, they encounter a pair of children nearly drowning in a stream. They save the children, but they reveal themselves to be Ols, creatures created by the Shadow Lord that can transform themselves to become another living creature. These creatures overrun the west side of Deltora to keep the gems hidden. Just before Barda is about to die, a boy Dain attacks the Ols and saves them. In the process, Dain injures his arm and several ribs. This causes Lief to sympathize for the boy, and take him to the Resistance, a group of people who rebel against the Shadow Lord. Arriving at the entrance to the Resistance's hideout, Dain faints from the pressure and forces the three to guess the password before they are marked as Ols and killed. Lief finds a note and realizes that the password is the first letter of every word on the note. They enter the Resistance and Doom, a man they have encountered before, tests them by putting them in a prison for three days. The test is supposed to find out if they are Ols because Ols can only hold their shape for three days. As three days pass, Doom does not let up and keeps them imprisoned. Dain frees them from the cave in exchange for their agreeing to take him to Tora. When Lief, Barda, and Jasmine reveal that they are not going to Tora, they split apart to make them less recognizable. Lief, Dain, and Barda take a boat that takes them down the river to the Maze of the Beast. They realize that Jasmine was also on the boat. The boat is raided by pirates, and Dain is taken prisoner. After reaching the Maze, Barda is revealed to be an Ol by the real Barda. Unfortunately, they are captured by pirates and are dumped into the Maze. After finding the location of the gem, Barda and Jasmine separate from Lief to lead the Beast away and Lief stays to carve the gem out of a column. They regroup when Lief was done, and escape the cave through a blowhole. The blowhole blows just after they escape, which takes the life of two pirates. The three then start off their journey to the Valley of the Lost. 

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The main characters of the book are Barda, Lief and Jasmine, who have retrieved all seven of the magic gems from their perilous Guardians and lairs. They now have the topaz, ruby, emerald, lapis lazuli, diamond, opal and amethyst gems. The Belt is whole and made, but the hardest part of the journey is yet to come—they need to find the heir of Adin, the true heir to Deltora's throne. There is, however, another problem. Lief's father tells him that they would find the heir with the Belt, for it will show the way, but the Belt shows them the way but shows no sign of recognition of the heir. The party knows there is a problem and they have to do something about it. They also know that they need to recruit a member of each of the seven tribes as well. The seven tribe members are Lief of Del for the topaz, Manus of the Ralad people for the ruby, Steven (and Nevets) of the Plains people for the opal, Fardeep of the Mere for the lapis lazuli, Gla-Thon of the Dread Gnomes for the emerald, Zeean of Tora for the amethyst, and Glock of the Jalis for the diamond. In addition to this, they now need to awaken the Belt's hidden powers and find the heir to the throne of Deltora. However, along the way, their friend Steven and his brother Nevets tell the three to go across a field of hidden grippers, which are plants composed of deep holes with venomous teeth inside to avoid the Grey Guards positioned in the road searching all the caravans passing by. Lief and Jasmine escaped relatively unharmed, but Barda suffers severe damage. They are forced into a small cabin when they find the remains of a man, woman, and small child bearing a note from King Endon with the royal seal at the bottom. When the gang finally reaches the Resistance stronghold, Barda wakes up long enough to tell the three that the letter was false and planted there by the Shadow Lord because when Endon escaped with Sharn, he did not have the royal seal with him as it had always been held with Prandine. Barda's condition worsens, until he has almost died when all seven tribes are reunited. Lief realizes that Dain is the heir as the Belt is showing that the heir is somewhere in the room. To help prove this, Lief realized that Dain's name is an anagram of 'Adin'. Dain is then kidnapped by Ichabod just when Lief was supposed to hand over the Belt, and the Belt falls on Barda who then starts to make a recovery. Everyone heads to Del to rescue Dain and falls into an elaborated trap where the puppet master is revealed at last - no other than Dain himself. Dain is a Grade 3 Ol and he has been fooling them all along. Lief manages to kill him with the Belt and then Lief, Jasmine, Barda, and Doom escape to Lief's old home, where the second secret is revealed - Doom is actually Jasmine's father. Everyone is then arrested by Grey Guards except for Lief who then, with Kree, goes to the punishment place in the palace to try and save them. When he is there, he suddenly remembers a passage from a book that his father showed him: "Only the Belt of Deltora, complete as it was first fashioned by Adin and worn by Adin's true heir, has the power to defeat the Enemy." He rearranges the gems in the socketed Belt so that their initials spell Deltora (the order would be Diamond, Emerald, Lapis Lazuli, Topaz, Opal, Ruby, and finally Amethyst), and the Belt's powers flare to life, saving the country. Lief realizes then that he is the heir and the very last secret is shown, that Endon and Jarred switched places because no one could suspect that a king and queen of Deltora could work as a simple blacksmith and wife. Endon, Lief's father, dies a peaceful death now that Deltora has been rid of the Shadow Lord at last. 

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In modern times, an antiques dealer (Henrik Galeen) searching the ruins of a Jewish temple, finds a golem (Paul Wegener), a clay statue that had been brought to life four centuries earlier by a Kabbalist rabbi using a magical amulet to protect the Jewish people from persecution. The dealer resurrects the golem as a servant, but the golem falls in love with Jessica (Lyda Salmonova), the dealer's daughter. When she does not return his love, the golem goes on a rampage and commits a series of murders. 

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The novel's first-person protagonist, an unnamed vagrant with intellectual leanings, probably in his late twenties, wanders the streets of Norway's capital, Kristiania (Oslo), in pursuit of nourishment. Over four episodes he meets a number of more or less mysterious persons, the most notable being Ylajali, a young woman with whom he engages in a mild degree of physical intimacy. He exhibits a self-created code of chivalry, giving money and clothes to needy children and vagrants, not eating food given to him, and turning himself in for stealing. Essentially self- destructive, he thus falls into traps of his own making, and with a lack of food, warmth and basic comfort, his body turns slowly to ruin. Overwhelmed by hunger, he scrounges for meals, at one point nearly eating his own (rather precious) pencil and his finger. His social, physical and mental states are in constant decline. However, he has no antagonistic feelings towards 'society' as such, rather he blames his fate on 'God' or a divine world order. He vows not to succumb to this order and remains 'a foreigner in life', haunted by 'nervousness, by irrational details'. He experiences an artistic and financial triumph when he sells a text to a newspaper, but despite this he finds writing increasingly difficult. At one point in the story, he asks to spend a night in a prison cell, posing as a well-to-do journalist who has lost the keys to his apartment. In the morning he cannot bring himself to reveal his poverty or even partake in the free breakfast provided to the homeless. Finally, as the book comes to a close, when his existence is at an absolute ebb, he signs on to the crew of a ship leaving the city. 

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The community of a small Norwegian coastal town is shaken by the arrival of eccentric stranger Johan Nagel, who proceeds to shock, bewilder, and beguile its bourgeois inhabitants with his bizarre behavior, feverish rants, and uncompromising self-revelations.James Wood, "Addicted to Unpredictability," London Review of Books, Vol. 20, No. 23, November 26, 1998.Jeffrey Frank, "In From the Cold," The New Yorker, December 26, 2005. 

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A shipping company employs a team of four people (a journalist, a psychic, a meteorologist, and an oceanographer) to discover the secret of the Bermuda Triangle. With the help of a Greenpeace survivor and a tycoon they ultimately find out the truth about a high-tech underwater facility operated by the United States Navy and its relation to the Philadelphia Experiment, determining that the Triangle is a wormhole. They close the Triangle, destroying it forever, but their efforts at closing the wormhole also disrupt time and cause the Triangle never to have existed in the first place, with everyone who was taken being returned and living out their lives as though nothing had ever happened. In the new Triangle-less timeline the only ones who know the Bermuda Triangle ever existed are the team members who destroyed it. 

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In Paris in 1893, the dance-hall in Montmartre owned by La Môme Pistache, Bal du Paradis, is being threatened with closing by a self-righteous judge, Aristide Forestier. He is offended by the scandalous but popular dance that the attractive dancers perform at the dance- hall, the "Can-Can." The judge sends the police to harass the owner and dancers, but the police like the dancers so much that they are reluctant to testify against them in court. The judge decides to gather evidence himself, and takes a trip to the club. Once there, he and the owner, La Môme, fall in love. He tries to keep his identity a secret but the girls recognize him. He sees the Can-Can and gets photographic evidence of its scandalousness. La Môme and the dancers are sent to jail. One of the dancers, Claudine, a laundry girl by day, has been pursued by Hilaire, an art critic, who plans to host an elaborate ball at the club. Claudine, who loves a sculptor, Boris, arranges to have dinner with Hilaire so that her sculptor will receive a favourable review. Now, with the proprietress and dancers locked up, the ball cannot go forward. The judge is struggling with the conflict between his moral scruples and his love for La Môme. Eventually, he concedes that "obscenity is in the eye of the beholder". He urges her to escape, but a journalist gets a photograph of him kissing her – a scandal for him! Hilaire criticises Boris's sculptures, and the cowardly artist manages to challenge the critic to a duel before fainting. Eventually, Hilaire writes a gushing review of Boris's work. Judge Aristide loses his judgeship and is disbarred, but La Môme and the girls all go to court with him and all win their cases. 

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Set in and around New York City, the two humanistic mystery-dramas each stars interracial-buddy private detectives Ted Denning and Bob Rainier. A Remembrance of Threatening Green involves a midwife hiring the investigators to find who killed her lesbian lover. In A Terror of Dying Dreams, a social worker has the duo investigate a wife-beating millionaire. 

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An assortment of people gather at a countryside inn in preparation for the infamous "Cannonball Run", an illegal three-day cross-country race from Washington, D.C. to Santa Monica where the winner and five runners-up will receive $1 million. However, the hot-headed Washington Chief of Police, Spiro T. Edsel, along with his long-suffering sidekick Whitman, arrest all of the drivers to prevent the race from happening. As a result, sponsors must find replacement drivers by the next day. Leo Ross, seeing that his old school rival, Charlie Cronan, has driving skills while working as a parking valet, bullies him into driving his BMW. Ross also persuades Charlie to bring along Tiffany, a dimwitted Marilyn Monroe-esque actress. Vic DeRubis is a hitman- for-hire sent to kill Alec Stewart, an English deadbeat and compulsive gambler who has squandered money that he borrowed from loan sharks. Alec convinces Vic to ride with him, hoping to win the Cannonball Run and pay off the various mobsters. They team up in a Jaguar XJS. Lea Roberts and Margaret take over a Ferrari Daytona Spyder after the driver they are trying to woo is arrested. MIT graduates into electronics and gadgets, they are tempted by the prize money and the challenge. When the driver of the Lamborghini is arrested, a skittish Italian porter, Valentino Rosatti is forced to drive it by Flash, a former policeman who wants the money for his own reasons. Nelson and Randolph Van Sloan, two millionaires and the only drivers not arrested in the police sweep, enter in a Bentley Corniche convertible. They spend most of their time trying to secretly catch a flight to Los Angeles in order to win by cheating. Following the race are a pair of television reporters, Heather Scott and Jack O'Neill, who get so caught up in the action that they decide to race their Ford news van. In hot pursuit is Edsel, who grows increasingly insane in his unsuccessful efforts to stop the racers. Edsel and his men manage to arrest Vic and Alec, who quickly escape and steal the police car. Edsel and Whitman chase after them in their Jaguar. At the race conclusion, Edsel and Whitman themselves win the Cannonball Run by driving the Jaguar across the finish line at Santa Monica Pier first – saving Alec, because as he points out to Vic; the winner is the car, not the driver – followed by Vic and Alec in their stolen police car. Charlie and Tiffany driving the BMW finish third, Lee and Margaret fourth, Heather and Jack fifth, Flash and Valentino sixth, with the Van Sloan brothers coming in last while riding on roller skis. The ending credits features the cast playfully driving bumper cars. 

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Scott Marshall (Michael J. Pagan) comes from a family of superheroes. His father, Bronze Eagle (Robert Townsend), has the gift of flight. His mother, Warrior Woman (Alex Datcher), has the power of super strength and superior hand-to-hand combat skills. His brother, Silver Charge (Kasan Butcher), is gifted with super speed, electrical and magnetism manipulation. His little sister, Molly (Arreale Davis), has both x-ray and heat vision. His grandfather, Steel Condor (Sherman Hemsley), has super strength, invulnerability and flight (though at his old age, he flies slower than cars), and has an ongoing feud with Superman. His grandmother, Doris (Joan Pringle), has the ability to morph. Unfortunately, Scott lacks powers and if none appear before his 14th birthday, he's normal for life. The Marshalls all share the same "superhero weakness", which is aluminium foil. An activist group known as "Earth Protectors" have been giving out CD-ROMS about the environment to Scott's classmates. The programmer, Nina (Olivia Burnette), wants to use them to educate, but her partner, Malcolm (Kevin Connolly), has greedy plans for the program. When a bank robbery fails, he realizes that the program only works on kids; he experiments, giving the kids chocolate cravings, making them all wear blue, etc. After Scott loses track of time due to being mesmerized by the CD-ROM, Jim gets suspicious about Earth Protectors; he takes Adam to the bank to search for the Earth Protectors program. Unfortunately, Adam overloads the computer, frying the system. Scott pretends to have super strength and flight powers, so as not to disappoint his parents; his grandfather learns the truth, deciding to support him. Malcolm decides to use Nina as a Damsel in Distress for a win-win plan; he'll capture the heroes in the way of his plans, or simply be rid of Nina. This occurs on Scott's birthday; his parents and the guests decide to let Scott try saving her. However, both almost die until Jim saves them, having been told the truth by his father. Scott loses his mask, which Malcolm matches to him; he visits Scott's school, using an improved CD- ROM to force him to reveal everything about his family. He then has a new CD- ROM given to Scott, telling the teacher that all the children's parents have to watch that night's lesson. Unfortunately, Scott accidentally switches CD- ROM’s with his friend Amy (Jamie Renée Smith); as result, her mother (Nancy Sorel) subconsciously robs a bank and goes to Earth Protectors' HQ. They use her as bait lure the heroes, and capture them with foil. Scott, along with Amy and his best friend, Randy (Chris Marquette), head to the warehouse to save his family from being brainwashed by Malcolm. They are helped by Nina, who has realized Malcolm's intentions; before they can alter the program, Malcolm's goons capture them. Less than a second remaining before his family is permanently reprogrammed, Scott smashes the main computer with a soccer ball. Silver Charge uses his powers to (literally) burn away their memories of the heroes' identities. Amy admits she likes Scott and asks him to a dance, but Adam erases her memories of everything that happened. Scott's parents decide to let Randy keep his memories as Scott needs a friend to talk to about his life. When it comes time to pick a soccer team captain, Amy and Scott each pick the other person, resulting in them being co-captains. Randy asks about heroes, learning that the Green Hornet was one of Scott's birthday guests. 

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Rowland Mallet, a wealthy Bostonian bachelor and art connoisseur, visits his cousin Cecilia in Northampton, Massachusetts, before leaving for Europe. There he sees a Grecian figure he thinks is a remarkable work of art. Cecilia introduces him to the local sculptor, Roderick Hudson, a young law student who sculpts in his spare time. Mallet—who loves art but is without artistic talent himself—sees an opportunity to contribute: he offers to advance Roderick a sum of money against future works which will allow Roderick to join him in moving to Italy for two years. Mallet believes that in Rome, Roderick will be exposed to the kind of artistic influences which will allow his natural talent to fully mature. Roderick is galvanized by the offer, but he fears his highly protective mother's disapproval and urges Mallet to meet with and reassure her. Mallet does so, eventually overcoming the woman's doubts. At the meeting, Mallet is also introduced to Mary Garland, a distant poor cousin of the Hudsons who has been living with them as a companion to Mrs. Hudson. Mallet finds himself unexpectedly attracted to the young woman—to her simplicity, her lack of affectation, her honesty. During a farewell picnic attended by many of the Hudsons' friends and family, Mallet realizes he has fallen in love for the first time in his life. But, because of his natural reserve and imminent departure for two years, he fails to declare his feelings, yet still harbors hopes that something may yet come of the relationship. That hope is crushed when, on the voyage across the Atlantic, Roderick reveals that just before leaving he asked Miss Garland to marry him and she accepted. "...You came and put me into such ridiculous good-humor," Roderick tells Mallet, "that I felt an extraordinary desire to tell some woman that I adored her." Mallet listens to all this with the feeling that fortune has played an elaborately devised trick on him; that just as he had finally found love, it had been stolen away because of his own act of generosity. After a rough start in Rome, Roderick begins to flourish in the arts community, building a reputation as an original talent and a charming, if ill-mannered, character. Meanwhile, Mallet attempts to suppress his feelings for Mary Garland by cultivating a relationship with Augusta Blanchard, another expatriate American artist living in Italy. When Roderick decides to visit Switzerland or Germany, Mallet travels with him part way before going on to visit friends in England. There Mallet writes to Mrs Hudson to inform her of the situation. She replies saying she is pleased the situation has gone so well. However, when Rowland finally hears from Roderick, he begs him for money to cover the debts he incurred while gambling at Baden- Baden. The two men return to Rome where, one fateful day, Christina Light enters Roderick's studio to peruse his artwork. Christina has grown up on the Continent, tended by her ambitious mother and the mother's aging Italian escort, the Cavaliere. She is, by general agreement, one of the most startlingly beautiful young women in Europe, and her mother is determined to marry Christina to a wealthy and titled gentleman. The impoverished Roderick is nonetheless instantly infatuated with Christina, eventually obtaining approval to sculpt her bust and thereby ingratiating himself with the family. Although the prematurely world-weary Christina is slow to show her feelings for Roderick, she comes increasingly to be attracted to him and to his status as an artistic "genius". Mallet finds himself in a wrenching emotional bind – attempting to prevent Roderick from consummating his love with Christina so as to protect Mary Garland from emotional injury; knowing all the while that doing so will foreclose forever any possibility that he himself can marry the only woman he has ever loved. Later Mallet encounters Christina and Roderick at the Colisseum. He saves Roderick from falling to his death attempting to pick an out-of-reach flower for Christina. Mallet subsequently happens to meet Christina at the church of St. Cecilia, and when he discovers that the relationship between Roderick and Christina is more serious than he had thought, urges her to give up her flirtation with Roderick. Rowland writes a letter to Cecilia about Roderick's fall. Later Roderick decides not to complete his sculpture for Mr Leavenworth, leading Rowland to be annoyed with him. Rowland visits Madame Grandoni and meets Christina there. He then decides to leave for Florence, but decides to make up with Roderick and bring his mother and his betrothed over to Italy to save him. While doing some sightseeing, Miss Garland admits to being afraid of changing. They walk into Christina and Roderick says she might not marry the Prince after all. Roderick then does a sculpture of his mother. Mrs Hudson thinks she owes something to Rowland for all he has done. Upon completing the bust, Roderick says he will not marry Miss Garland. Rowland and Gloriani witness another of Roderick's tantrums. Later, Mrs Grandoni says Miss Blanchard is marrying Mr Leavenworth, although she is in love with Rowland. She then throws a party and Christina turns up uninvited to observe Miss Garland and be vituperative. The next day the latter admits she takes Christina to be fake. Later after the Prince has left, the Cavaliere visits Rowland and entreats him to advise Christina, as she has no father to turn to. After checking on Roderick because his mother has received a note from him saying he didn't want to be disturbed, he goes to the Lights' and talks to Christina. She says she doesn't like the Prince but likes Roderick as a friend. She has however married the Prince... Roderick admits to his mother he is unable to work and is crippled with debts. Upon Rowland's counsel, they move to cheaper accommodation in Florence. When his morale isn't improving, his mother suggests moving back to Northampton, Massachusetts. Instead, Rowland persuades them to move to Switzerland. There, he seems a little closer to Miss Garland; Rowland asks him about Christina, but he avoids the question. Later, they walk into Sam; then Rowland chances upon Christina and the Prince; Roderick comes along and he is stupefied with her beauty. He then wants to join her in Interlaken as she has asked of him. He begs Rowland, his mother, and Miss Garland for money. Rowland admits that he is in love with Miss Garland. Finally, Roderick dies in a storm while on his way to Interlaken; Rowland and Sam find his dead body the next day. Mrs Hudson and Miss Garland return to Massachusetts. 

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The series focuses on the lives of Maisy Mouse and her friends. A mellow-voiced narrator narrates the action and communicates with the characters while the animals go through their paces without speaking, they instead make unusual weird sounds and noises which sound like speaking since they're meant to be four to nine years old. The narrator, however, can understand them easily because he is the only one who actually speaks. The animated series keeps the two-dimensional visual style of the books. 

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The novel is set in the Fourlands, a country in danger of being overrun by large hostile Insects, and follows the exploits of Jant, also called "the Messenger" or "Comet". As a half-breed of two humanoid species Jant is the only person who can fly, which makes him an indispensable part of the Emperor's Circle of about 50 immortals, an elite group of (mostly) warriors who do not age (but, despite the name, are capable of being killed). So far, four sequels has been published: No Present Like Time (2005), The Modern World (2007), Above the Snowline (2010) and Fair Rebel (2016). 

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The novel is set in the Fourlands, a country in danger of being overrun by large hostile Insects, and follows the exploits of Jant, also called "the Messenger" or "Comet". As a half-breed of two humanoid species Jant is the only person who can fly, which makes him an indispensable part of the Emperor's Circle of about 50 immortals, an elite group of (mostly) warriors who do not age (but, despite the name, are capable of being killed). 

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Shinichi Chiaki, an arrogant, multilingual perfectionist, is the top student at Momogaoka College of Music and has secret ambitions to become a conductor. Born into a musical family, he is talented in piano and violin and once lived abroad in the music capitals of the world as a young boy (namely Prague), but is trapped in Japan because of his childhood phobia of airplanes and the ocean. In contrast, Megumi Noda, or "Nodame", is a piano student at Momogaoka, notorious for messiness and eccentric behavior. Despite being very talented, Nodame prefers to play by ear rather than according to the musical score; thus, she is regarded as sloppy and playful. When they meet by accident, Nodame quickly falls in love, but it takes much longer for Chiaki to even begin to appreciate Nodame's unusual qualities. Their relationship causes them both to develop and grow. Along the way, they meet some crazy people (like Masumi, Mine, and Stresemann) and make lasting friendships. Because of Nodame, Chiaki gets the opportunity to lead a student orchestra and begins to have a broader appreciation of people's musical abilities. Because of Chiaki, Nodame faces her fears and enters a piano competition. Opportunities open up as both begin taking risks, stretching themselves far more than they ever thought possible. After graduation, Nodame succeeds in curing Chiaki from his phobias and they both move to Paris, where Nodame continues her piano studies at the Conservatoire de Paris while Chiaki starts a professional career as a conductor. In Europe, they encounter new friends and rivals, as well as keep in touch with their friends from Japan. 

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The film is loosely based on the career of actress Sybille Schmitz and is influenced by Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard. The film is set in Munich in 1955. Veronika Voss is a formerly popular UFA film star who is said to have slept with Joseph Goebbels but is now struggling to get roles. She meets a sports reporter named Robert Krohn and is impressed that he does not know who she is. The two begin a love affair, even though Robert already lives with his girlfriend Henriette, who nevertheless realizes that Veronika has an irresistible allure. Veronika's behavior is erratic and sometimes desperate. Robert decides to do a story about aging movie stars that were once popular and now unnoticed, using Veronika as a case study. As Robert delves into her life he discovers that she is essentially a captive to a corrupt neurologist named Dr. Marianne Katz. Dr. Katz keeps Veronika addicted to opiates and uses her power to give or deny drugs as a means to bleed the actress of her wealth. To verify his suspicions, Robert has Henriette approach Dr. Katz and pretend to be a rich woman in need of psychiatric care. Dr. Katz writes Henriette a prescription for an opiate but afterward witnesses her making a phone call in the street outside the office. Dr. Katz then has Henriette killed and with Veronika's help covers up the crime when Robert arrives with the police. The film ends tragically as Dr. Katz and her cohorts have Veronika sign over all that she owns and leave her with a fatal dose of pills. After Veronika's death, Robert observes the villains celebrating their victory and is unable to do a thing. 

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In the time of Frederick Barbarossa, in the area of Italy known as Lombardy, Dardo Bartoli (Lancaster) has brought his son Rudi (Gordon Gebert) to the town especially to see Count Ulrich (Frank Allenby), known as "the Hawk", together with his niece, Lady Anne (Mayo), and his mistress, Dardo's unfaithful wife Francesca (Lynn Baggett). Dardo shows off his skill as an archer by shooting down Ulrich's expensive hunting hawk. In revenge, the count orders that Dardo's son be taken to his castle. Dardo is struck by an arrow while fleeing with Rudi, so the boy allows himself to be captured in order to draw the soldiers away. At the palace, young Marchese Alessandro de Granazia (Robert Douglas), to whom Ulrich plans to marry Anne's hand for political reasons, refuses to pay Ulrich's taxes; in retaliation, Ulrich orders de Granazia's arrest and confiscation of his lands and property. After his rescue by Dardo, the marchese joins Dardo's band of outlaws. Dardo makes another attempt to free his son. Acting on information provided by his uncle Papa Bartoli (Francis Pierlot), Dardo obtains the help of Anne's maid (one of Dardo's many lovers) to sneak into Ulrich's castle along with his best friend Piccolo (Cravat), but the rescue proves unsuccessful. When they find themselves in Lady Anne's apartment, Piccolo suggests they kidnap her instead. They take her to their secret hideout. She tries several times to escape, but Dardo is too crafty for her. Dardo sends a message to the count, offering an exchange of prisoners, but Ulrich threatens to execute Bartoli unless Anne is released. Dardo and the others race to the village and rescue Bartoli. Then Dardo learns from his aunt Nonna (Aline MacMahon) that five more prisoners have been taken to hang in Papa's place. Dardo gives himself up to save the others and is hanged in front of his son. Ulrich takes the rest of the rebels prisoner, including the marchese. The marchese informs Ulrich that the rebels are planning an attack the next day and that Dardo is still alive (the executioner had been replaced by Dardo's friend). As a reward for this betrayal, Ulrich agrees to the marchese's marriage to Anne. When she finds out their plans, she warns Nonna Bartoli, with Dardo and his men hiding around the corner. They decide that they must attack at once. Piccolo comes up with a plan for getting into the castle by the men posing as some of the acrobats providing entertainment. The ruse works. When they are ready, they remove their disguises and a battle ensues. During the melee, Anne warns Dardo that Ulrich has gone for his son. When Dardo catches up to Ulrich, he is in the company of the marchese. The count leaves Dardo and the marchese to fight. Though Dardo tries to persuade the marchese to stand aside, the marchese refuses, trusting in his swordsmanship, but Dardo manages to plunge the room into darkness, where his hunter's instinct gives him the fatal edge. Afterwards, Dardo finds his wife dead, killed by a knife in the back while trying to protect Rudi. From the ramparts, he sees the count far below, holding Rudi with a dagger at his throat, using him as a human shield to make his escape. Dardo finds a bow and, aiming carefully, kills Ulrich and frees his son. With the battle won, Dardo embraces his son and Anne together. 

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As the Nazis invade the Netherlands in 1940, Corrie (Jeannette Clift George) and the rest of her family allow Jews to hide in a part of their home that is specially remodeled by members of the Dutch resistance. However, the Nazis eventually discover that the family is hiding Jews, and on February 28, 1944, the entire family and its friends are arrested after their betrayal by a Dutch collaborator. The hidden Jews are never found by authorities. Corrie's father, Casper, dies before he reaches the concentration camp, and Corrie worries that she will never see her home again. The Nazis send Corrie and her sister, Betsie (Julie Harris), to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, Germany, for hiding Jews in their home. At the concentration camp, Betsie encourages Corrie to remain hopeful that God will rescue them from the brutalities they experience. With little food and constant work, the women suffer constantly, and Betsie dies. Ultimately, Corrie leaves the camp in December 1944 through what is discovered years later to have been a clerical error, as everyone else in her group of prisoners was gassed the next month (January 1945). Her life after the ordeal was dedicated to showing that Jesus' love is greater than the deepest pit into which humankind finds itself. 

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Porter Stoddard (Warren Beatty) is so prosperous an architect, he has New York homes on Park Avenue and in the Hamptons, as well as a vacation lodge out west in Sun Valley, Idaho. He has been married for 25 years to the equally successful Ellie (Diane Keaton), an interior designer, but has been having an affair with Alex (Nastassja Kinski), a beautiful young cellist. There is trouble brewing in the marriage of their best friends. Mona Morris (Goldie Hawn) wants a divorce from antique-dealer husband Griffin (Garry Shandling), after catching him having a hotel tryst. The part she did not catch is that Griffin's new romantic partner is a cross-dressing man. Mona wants to travel to Mississippi to see her girlhood antebellum home. Ellie is worried about Mona's depression over the state of her marriage and does not feel she should be alone, so Porter is asked to accompany Mona down south. There, they end up having a quick sexual fling. With things awkward at home for both, Porter and Griffin fly by themselves to Sun Valley to get away from their troubles. But it is not long before Porter finds himself in a romantic entanglement with Eugenie Claybourne (Andie MacDowell), a spoiled heiress whose gun-loving father (Charlton Heston) is already loading his shotgun in case Porter does wrong by his daughter. A free spirit named Auburn (Jenna Elfman) also ends up coaxing Porter and Griffin to a Halloween party, where they end up dressed in preposterous costumes. By the time Porter returns to New York, everything is falling apart, not only his home life but his house. And, once and for all, Griffin finds the nerve to tell his wife that he is leaving her for someone else, but it is not another woman. 

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On first appearance the book concerns two different characters, both of whom have interior monologues in the book. As the story moves along the two characters are distinguished by name only as their experiences and thoughts are similar. The novel is set in an indeterminate place, most often identified with the Ireland of Beckett's birth. The majority of Part One is made up of Molloy's inner musings interspersed with the action of the plot. It is split into two paragraphs: the first is less than two pages long; the second paragraph lasts for over eighty pages. In the first we are given a vague idea of the setting Molloy is writing in. We are told that he now lives in his mother's room, though how he arrived there or whether his mother died before or during his stay is apparently forgotten. There is also a man who arrives every Sunday to pick up what Molloy has written and bring back what he had taken last week returning them "marked with signs" though Molloy never cares to read them. He describes that his purpose while writing is to "speak of the things that are left, say [his] goodbyes, finish dying." In the second paragraph he describes a journey he had taken some time earlier, before he came there, to find his mother. He spends much of it on his bicycle, gets arrested for resting on it in a way that is considered lewd, but is unceremoniously released. From town to anonymous town and across anonymous countryside, he encounters a succession of bizarre characters: an elderly man with a stick; a policeman; a charity worker; a woman whose dog he kills running over it with a bike (her name is never completely determined: "a Mrs Loy... or Lousse, I forget, Christian name something like Sophie"), and one whom he falls in love with ("Ruth" or maybe "Edith"); He abandons his bicycle (which he will not call "bike"), walks in no certain direction, meeting "a young old man"; a charcoal-burner living in the woods, whom he attacks and savagely beats. Part Two is narrated by a private detective by the name of Jacques Moran, who is given the task by his boss, the mysterious Youdi, of tracking down Molloy. This narrative (Part Two) begins: > It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. He sets out, taking his recalcitrant son, also named Jacques, with him. They wander across the countryside, increasingly bogged down by the weather, decreasing supplies of food and Moran's suddenly failing body. He sends his son to purchase a bicycle and while his son is gone, Moran encounters two strange men, one of whom Moran murders (in manner comparable to Molloy's), and then hides his body in the forest. Eventually, the son disappears, and he struggles home. At this point in the work, Moran begins to pose several odd theological questions, which make him appear to be going mad. Having returned to his home, now in a state of shambles and disuse, Moran switches to discussing his present state. He has begun to use crutches, just as Molloy does at the beginning of the novel. Also a voice, which has appeared intermittently throughout his part of the text, has begun to significantly inform his actions. The novel ends with Moran explaining that the voice told him "to write the report." > Then I went back into the house and wrote, It is midnight. The rain is > beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining. Thus, Moran forsakes reality, beginning to descend into the command of this "voice" which may in fact mark the true creation of Molloy. Due to the succession of the book from the first part to the second, the reader is led to believe that time is passing in a similar fashion; however, the second part could be read as a prequel to the first. 

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Even though Mark Twain originally wrote the books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as separate units, this series conjures up both literary works as only one story. Therefore, it places greater importance on Huckleberry's character without putting aside Tom Sawyer's. 

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The novel picks up several months after the events in the last chapter of Dilvish, the Damned. The Castle Timeless, one of several fortresses belonging to Dilvish's arch-enemy, Jelerak, is currently inhabited by the "mad" Old One Tualua. Tualua is undergoing one of the "changes" common to his kind, which in this case causes the land surrounding the castle to be subject to all sorts of chaotic, unpredictable, and often-deadly effects. A number of wizards, hoping to tap into Tualua's vast power, attempt to pass through this maelstrom and reach the castle. Watching events from the outside are members of the Society of Magic. Dilvish, determined to avenge himself against Jelerak, appears and attempts to breach the magical barriers, hoping to find his arch-enemy inside. Accompanied by his companion Black, a demon-like being in the shape of a black metal horse, they rescue a wizard, Weleand, from being drowned in an acid pit. Soon after they meet a young Elven girl, Arlata, frozen by one of magical winds. Weleand unfreezes her by transferring the condition to Black, and escapes. Dilvish is then captured by one of the caretakers of the castle, Baran of the Extra Hand, and thrown into the dungeon with several captured wizards. Escaping the dungeon, Dilvish wanders the castle, eventually finding Semirama, a woman from long ago resurrected by Jelerak to be one of the caretakers (along with Baran). Semirama has managed to build a rapport with the demi-god Tualua, and has caused the demi-god to feign madness to disrupt the lands around the castle with chaos. This is part of Baran's plan to usurp Jelerak's power, the disruption being one of the things preventing outsiders reaching the castle. Baran has also placed magical guards on other entry points, such as a mirror that can act as a portal. Black manages to sneak into the castle in his human form, and encounters Jelerak, who was disguised as Weleand, about to sacrifice an unconscious Arlata as a means to gain control of Tualua. Meanwhile the escaped wizards manage to disable the maintaining spell which keeps the castle anchored in normal time, causing everyone in the castle to become temporarily unconscious. The entire castle and its inhabitants are rapidly accelerated into the far future, so far that they reach the end of time. Here they encounter the Elder Gods, who appear as gargantuan beings the height of the stars, gambling with dice, apparently for the right to control the outcome of the contest beneath them. Baran is killed by one of the wizards, and both Jelerak and Tualua are claimed by the Elder Gods, the former as their prisoner and the latter as one of their own. Semirama, her resurrection canceled by the Elder Gods' capture of Jelerak, collapses into dust, her soul now inhabiting the alternate universe of mirrors in the castle, where she meets up with an ancestor of Dilvish's, Selar. The Elder Gods re-attach Castle Timeless to the flow of time, and it passes through the beginning of the universe, where the magicians have to do battle with the "Hounds of Thandalos". The fortress eventually comes to rest at its original point in history. Dilvish is initially enraged by the denial of his desire for vengeance, but then realizes that Jelerak will receive justice at the hands of the Gods, whom he has openly defied. Dilvish decides to go back to his homeland with Arlata, who is the granddaughter of one of Dilvish's former loves in that land. With the help of a Society member, the survivors escape through the mirror portal. 

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The movie starts at what seems like a small house in a natural setting. Mickey walks out the door and says, "Oh boy! What a day!" Then, he pulls a lever and walks inside. The house is converted into a trailer (with the natural setting, in the shape of a giant hand fan, revealed to be a city dump) and Goofy's car is released from the side. Then, Goofy starts driving through the countryside while Mickey makes dinner-like breakfast (corn on the cob, baked potatoes, watermelon, coffee, and milk). Meanwhile, Donald can't wake up, even when his alarm clock rings and pulls off his blanket. Thanks to a secret controlboard, Mickey manages to rouse him for a machine-assisted bath, but he sees birds watching him and swats them away with his brush. Later, the bath is converted into a dining area. When Mickey rings the dinner bell, Goofy foolishly leaves the driver's seat - while the car and trailer are still in motion - for breakfast, in which it drives through a closed road. After several mishaps during the meal (getting hit by nearby drawers and sticking a fork into a power socket), eventually having popcorn for breakfast, Goofy notices that no one is in the driver's seat and accidentally and unknowingly unhitches the trailer in his panic to resume driving and goes on his way. The trailer rolls downhill on an epic runaway adventure, in which the dining table and chairs suddenly fold up into a box. As the trailer is about to go over a cliff, Mickey jumps out from the back of the trailer and pushes on a cliff on the opposite side of the ravine to push the trailer back on the road. The trailer then approaches an oncoming truck and avoids it by driving onto the nearby fence. Donald grabs the phone (connected to a extendable metal arm) and desperately tries to call for help, but finds himself hanging outside of the trailer's open door. When the trailer falls off the road again, Mickey grabs a nearby sign to get it back on the road, pulling Donald back inside the trailer in the process. Donald sees an oncoming train and yells at it to stop, to no avail. Mickey watches in panic while Donald begs for his life. Fortunately, the trailer manages to get pass the intersection before the train can (at a dangerously close range). The two are relieved that they survived, but suddenly see another oncoming train (it is unclear if the train is the same one from before or a different one), except this time, the train has reached the intersection first. The train clears the intersection at the last second, allowing the trailer to cross through safely. The trailer reaches the end of the road, causing it to roll down the hill like a boulder. Meanwhile, Goofy, who was singing "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes", makes it safely down the hill, but does not see the trailer tumbling down the hill as it's miraculously rehitches itself to the car and is a wreck on the inside (but okay on the outside). Unaware of the dramatic events, Goofy says in the end, "Well, I brought you down, safe and sound". 

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Several years after the events of A Better Tomorrow, Sung Tse-ho (Ti Lung) is offered early parole by the police in exchange for spying on his former boss and mentor, Lung Sei (Dean Shek), who is suspected of heading a counterfeiting operation. Inspector Wu (Lau Siu-ming), the leader of the crime task force, wants to mark his retirement with the capture of a high profile criminal like Lung. However, Ho, still loyal to Lung, initially declines. He changes his mind when he discovers that his younger brother, Sung Tse-kit (Leslie Cheung), is working undercover on the same case, and agrees to go undercover to protect his brother, who is expecting a child along with his pregnant wife Jackie (Emily Chu). While working the case, the two brothers meet and agree to work together on the investigation. After being framed for murder, Lung seeks Ho's help. Ho is able to help him escape to New York, but Lung suffers a psychotic break and is institutionalised after receiving news of his daughter's murder and witnessing his friend being killed. Meanwhile, Ho learns that Mark Lee has a long-lost twin brother, Ken (Chow Yun-fat), a former gang member who went legitimate and left Hong Kong as a teenager to travel across America, eventually settling and opening a restaurant in New York City. However, Ho tracks down Ken and enlists his assistance in freeing Lung and nursing him back to health. Targeted by both assassins hunting for Lung as well as American mobsters looking to extort Ken's business, Ken and Lung (who is still catatonic) go into hiding in an apartment building, and where Ken arms himself. During a shoot-out with the mobsters, but Ken and Lung find themselves cornered. Seeing Ken wounded and in trouble, Lung regains his sanity and kills the last of the Americans pursuing them. The two return to Hong Kong and link-up with Ho and Kit. The group discovers that one of Lung's employees, Ko Ying-pui (Kwan Shan), is responsible for trying to kill Lung and has taken over the organisation in Lung's absence. Lung resolves that he would rather destroy his organisation by his own hands than let it fall into dishonor and ruin, and the team starts planning to act against Ko. After doing some reconnaissance in Ko's mansion alone, Kit is fatally wounded, roughly at the same time his daughter is born. He is rescued by Ken, who attempts to rush him to the hospital. Knowing that he won't make it, Kit persuades Ken to stop at a phone booth to call his wife. He manages, just before he dies, to name his child Sung Ho-yin (in Cantonese, "the Spirit of Righteousness"). After attending Kit's funeral, Ho, Ken, and Lung take revenge on Ko by attacking his mansion during a meeting with a counterfeiting client. An enormous gun battle ensues. The three, assisted by Ho's former boss in the taxi company, kill approximately 90 others (including Ko) but are all severely (perhaps mortally) wounded in the process. After the shootout ends, the three sit down in the mansion and are surrounded by the police, led by Inspector Wu. Upon seeing the condition of the men, Wu motions to the other officers to lower their weapons. Ho remarks that Inspector Wu shouldn't retire yet as there is "much work left for [him] to do." 

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Clinging to the altar of the sea-goddess Thetis for sanctuary, Andromache delivers the play's prologue, in which she mourns her misfortune (the destruction of Troy, the deaths of her husband Hector and their child Astyanax, and her enslavement to Neoptolemos) and her persecution at the hands of Neoptolemos' new wife Hermione and her father Menelaus, King of Sparta. She reveals that Neoptolemos has left for the oracle at Delphi and that she has hidden the son she bore him (whose name is Molossos) for fear that Menelaus will try to kill him as well as her. A Maid arrives to warn her that Menelaus knows the location of her son and is on his way to capture him. Andromache persuades her to risk seeking the help of the king, Peleus (husband of Thetis, Achilles' father, and Neoptolemos' grandfather). Andromache laments her misfortunes again and weeps at the feet of the statue of Thetis. The párodos of the chorus follows, in which they express their desire to help Andromache and try to persuade her to leave the sanctuary. Just at the moment that they express their fearfulness of discovery by Hermione, she arrives, boasting of her wealth, status, and liberty. Hermione engages in an extended agôn with Andromache, in which they exchange a long rhetorical speech initially, each accusing the other. Hermione accuses Andromache of practising oriental witchcraft to make her barren and attempting to turn her husband against her and to displace her. "Learn your new-found place," she demands. She condemns the Trojans as barbarians who practise incest and polygamy. Their agon continues in a series of rapid stichomythic exchanges. When Menelaus arrives and reveals that he has found her son, Andromache allows herself to be led away. The intervention of the aged Peleus (the grandfather of Neoptolemus) saves them. Orestes, who has contrived the murder of Neoptolemus at Delphi and who arrives unexpectedly, carries off Hermione, to whom he had been betrothed before Neoptolemus had claimed her. The murder of Neoptolemus by Orestes and men of Delphi is described in detail by the Messenger to Peleus. The goddess Thetis appears as a deus ex machina and divines the future for Neoptolemus' corpse, Peleus, Andromache and Molossus. 

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Off the coast of Japan, the environment has been ravaged with poisonous starfish-like creatures called Barem. Meanwhile, the Elias sisters, Moll and Lora, survey the destruction and enlist the help of three children, who had just discovered and befriended a strange little creature dubbed "Ghogo" to help find the mysterious treasure of Nirai Kanai, an ancient lost civilization, to save the Earth from the declining environment. The Elias then tell the children that the people of Nirai Kanai created a monster called Dagahra as a method of pollution management gone wrong and only Mothra Leo can stop it; however, he will need the help of the lost castle of Nirai Kanai itself and the mysterious treasure within. Belvera, the evil Elias sister, manipulates two fishermen to get the treasure for herself. They all journey to the lost castle hidden beneath the ocean waters, and it magically rises out of the water when the travelers discover it. Dagahra, awakened after a sudden increase in pollution levels, then releases a swarm of Barem into the sea, killing many types of sea life. Moll and Lora call Mothra Leo, who nearly succeeds in defeating Dagahra, until the sea monster takes the battle underwater where it is in its element. Dagahra incapacitates Leo by covering him with Barem. Leo lands on the newly raised Nirai Kanai temple, but before Dagahra can give the killing blow, the structure activates and defends Leo. With Leo covered in Barem and powerless, Dagahra goes on a destructive rampage. Inside the temple, Moll, Lora and the three kids attempt to find the treasure, while Belvera and the two mind- controlled fishermen try to thwart their mission. After stealing some jewels they've found, the fishermen inadvertently unlock a gateway and awaken the Princess of Nirai Kanai. The Princess tells the three Elias sisters that Earth must be protected and saved, that the children are the hope of future generations, and reveals that Ghogo is the lost treasure. Moll and Lora then use Ghogo's energy to revive Mothra Leo and, as a result, turn the hero into Rainbow Mothra. Leo is then able to destroy the Barem covering his body. After taking a severe beating, Dagahra once again retreates into the water, where Rainbow Mothra turns into Aqua Mothra. This time Rainbow Mothra's new form allows him to overpower the sea monster. He finally finishes his battle with Dagahra by splitting into thousands of miniature Aqua Mothras; entering Dagahra's body and destroying the Barem producing there, and without the Barem, Dagahra self-destructs. Meanwhile, the temple begins to collapse. With the building crumbling over them, Moll and Lora ride onto Fairy to safety, while Belvera releases control of the fishermen, who help the children escape. The Princess raises Dagahra's body and drops it onto the temple, reducing everything into a wave of water. Aqua Mothra then returns to his single form, and then back into Rainbow Mothra; saving the world once again. 

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Richard Sharpe is a private in the 33rd Regiment of Foot in the British army. The British invade Mysore and advance on the Tippoo Sultan's capital city of Seringapatam. Sharpe is contemplating desertion with his paramour, half-caste army widow Mary Bickerstaff, due to his sadistic company sergeant, Obadiah Hakeswill. Hakeswill lusts after Mary, so he provokes Sharpe into hitting him before witnesses, company commander Captain Morris and Ensign Hicks. Sharpe is court-martialled; Lieutenant William Lawford, who is supposed to act as his defender, is absent and Sharpe is given the virtual death sentence of 2,000 lashes. However, the regiment's commander, Colonel Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington), halts the punishment at just over 200 lashes. Lawford has been offered an extremely dangerous mission and has requested Sharpe. Sharpe agrees to go along if he is made a sergeant if they are successful. Cover of the UK paperback edition Lawford and Sharpe pose as deserters to try to rescue Colonel Hector McCandless, chief of the British East India Company's intelligence service. Sharpe's flogging inadvertently makes their cover story more plausible. Sharpe quickly takes charge and brings Mary along, to protect her from Hakeswill and because she speaks several of the native languages. They are soon captured by scouts from the Tippoo's army and taken to Seringapatam where they meet Colonel Gudin, a French military adviser to the Tippoo. During their interrogation, the Tippoo enters and orders them to load muskets. He then orders Sharpe to shoot a British prisoner, Colonel McCandless; he does, having noticed that the "gunpowder" he has been given is fake. The musket does not fire. After covertly telling McCandless that he is a spy, he is told by McCandless that the British must not attack the seemingly weakest portion of the city walls. (It is later revealed that the Tippoo has had mines buried there to blow up the British when they enter the trap.) Lawford and Sharpe join Gudin's troops, whilst Mary is sent to work as a servant in the household of one of the Tippoo's generals, Appah Rao, a Hindu who, unknown to the Muslim Tippoo, is considering switching sides. As they search for their contact, a merchant who can pass along the vital warning to the besieging British forces. Gudin tests the pair further, giving them rifled fowling guns (Sharpe's first exposure to a rifled weapon instead of a smoothbore musket). Sharpe's shot is slightly high, but Lawford, to his mortification, ends up hitting a British scout. As a further test, Sharpe helps defend a Mysore encampment which is attacked by the British. During the attack, Sharpe encounters Hakeswill and tries to kill him, but is stopped by Gudin, who wants prisoners. Back in Seringapatam, Hakeswill spots Lawford in the crowd, but does not betray him (yet). Sharpe is rewarded for his actions by the Tippoo and is allowed to visit Mary. He finds that she is attracted to one of Appah Rao's men, Kunwar Singh, news which Sharpe takes in good grace. Meanwhile, the Tippoo orders the prisoners executed by his personal bodyguard, the fearsome Jettis, but spares Hakeswill when the sergeant betrays Lawford and Sharpe. The two are captured and Sharpe is tortured until Lawford reveals their mission. Gudin then tells them that the spy they sought in the city had been killed weeks before and fed to the Tippoo's pet tigers. They are then imprisoned with McCandless and Hakeswill. During their imprisonment, Lawford teaches Sharpe to read and write to make him a more effective sergeant. After days of bombardment, the British finally breach the wall and prepare to attack. With the assault imminent, Appah Rao orders Kunwar Singh to free McCandless, whilst the Tippoo orders Sharpe, Lawford and McCandless executed as a sacrifice to ensure his victory. Mary accompanies Singh and helps Sharpe escape. Sharpe, accompanied by Lawford, then sets the mine off prematurely. As a result, many of the Tippoo's best soldiers are killed or stunned, and the British enter the breach in the walls. Rao decides to abandon the Tippoo and withdraws his men. Sharpe returns to Hakeswill and throws him to the Tippoo's tigers, hoping they will eat the sergeant (though they inexplicably ignore him). Sharpe then encounters the Tippoo, who is trying to flee the city, kills him and loots his corpse. The British capture the city and restore the Hindu rajah to the throne, as a British puppet ruler. Sharpe carefully takes no credit for killing the Tippoo to avoid having to surrender the jewels he looted. 

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Sergeant Richard Sharpe and a small detachment of men arrive at an isolated East India Company fort to transport 80,000 recovered rounds of stolen ammunition to the armory at Seringapatam. Whilst Sharpe and his men rest, a company of East India Company sepoys arrive under the command of Lieutenant William Dodd. Dodd abruptly orders his men to fire on the outnumbered garrison, instigating a massacre. Sharpe is wounded and feigns death, allowing him to escape Dodd's determination to leave no soldiers alive to bear witness against him. Back in Seringapatam, Sharpe's friend, Colonel McCandless, whom Sharpe met a couple of years earlier during the siege of Seringapatam (Sharpe's Tiger), questions him about Dodd. Dodd deserted the East India Company, taking with him his sepoys, and McCandless has been tasked with bringing him to justice, lest it give others similar ideas. McCandless orders Sharpe to accompany him since he can identify Dodd. Dodd joins Colonel Anthony Pohlmann, commander of Daulat Scindia's army, at the city of Ahmednuggur and is rewarded with a promotion to major and command of his own battalion. Since the Mysore Campaign, the British have been pushing further north in India where the Maratha Confederacy holds sway, and Scinda is one of the Maratha rulers who have decided to resist the British advance. Scinda orders Pohlmann to assign a regiment to defend Ahmednuggur, so Pohlmann gives Dodd command of the unit and instructions to inflict casualties on the British, but most importantly, withdraw and keep the regiment intact. Meanwhile, Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill correctly guesses that Sharpe killed the Tippoo Sultan four years earlier at Seringapatam and looted the corpse. Hakeswill frames him for an attack on his former company commander, Captain Morris. Given a warrant to arrest Sharpe, Hakeswill recruits six cutthroats to help him murder Sharpe, once arrested, so they can steal the treasure. Sharpe and McCandless travel to the British army, escorted by Syud Sevajee, the Maratha leader of a band of mercenary cavalrymen working for the East India Company. They reach the army, now under the command of Major General Arthur Wellesley, Sharpe's former regimental commander and the future Duke of Wellington, which is pushing into Maratha territory. McCandless explains the nature of their mission. Upon arrival at Ahmednuggur, Wellesley quickly launches a risky escalade without the usual days-long artillery bombardment, in a bid to take the enemy by surprise. He quickly captures the poorly fortified town, to the amazement of Dodd, who has a poor opinion of Wellesley. Despite this, Dodd manages to extract his troops from the rout and retreats to Pohlmann's army, much to McCandless's anger. In the chaos of the battle, Sharpe rescues Simone Joubert, the French-Mauritian wife of a French officer in Dodd's regiment. Under the pretext of returning Madame Joubert to her husband, McCandless hopes to be able to reconnoitre the Maratha army. They do not leave immediately, however, and Sharpe spends the night in Ahmednuggur with Simone. The next day, they reach the Maratha army. Pohlmann correctly deduces that McCandless's real intentions, but knowing that his army vastly outnumbers the British, Pohlmann allows McCandless to see everything he wants. At the same time, Pohlmann tries to recruit Sharpe, offering to make him a lieutenant. He tells Sharpe of the various successes that lowly Europeans have had in India, including his own rise from sergeant in the East India Company to commander of Scinda's army. That evening, Sharpe considers defecting, but, before he can make a decision, his and McCandless's horses are stolen, with McCandless being wounded. Sharpe apprehends one of the thieves, who turns out to be one of Dodd's men. Both Sharpe and Pohlmann suspect that Dodd ordered the theft, but Pohlmann only has the thief executed. Meanwhile, Hakeswill takes his request to arrest Sharpe to Wellesley, who informs him that Sharpe will not return for some time. He assigns Hakeswill to the baggage train in the meantime, infuriating the impatient sergeant. The Maratha army moves on, leaving McCandless behind, at his own request. Sharpe decides to look after the wounded colonel, which he uses as a reason to refuse Pohlmann's offer. Nevertheless, he begins to wonder about how he might become an officer. Recognizing the ambition Pohlmann has stoked in the sergeant, McCandless cautions Sharpe. At the time, almost all of the officers in the British Army came from wealthy families and paid for their commissions. Those exceptional few who rose from the ranks were resented and had little chance of advancement. Whilst McCandless recovers, Syud Sevajee locates them and delivers McCandless's scouting report to Wellesley. When McCandless is recovered enough, he and Sharpe rejoin the army as it advances towards Borkardan. Using some of the Tippoo's jewels, Sharpe buys one of Wellesley's horses for McCandless, though he pretends to Wellesley that McCandless is the purchaser. The surprised McCandless learns about Sharpe and the Tippoo's death. The next day, Hakeswill attempts to arrest Sharpe, but McCandless smudges the ink on the warrant so that it reads "Sharp", not "Sharpe", and refuses to let him take Sharpe. After weeks of aimless marching, the Maratha leaders meet and finally decide to engage the British near Assaye. Pohlmann is given overall command. The British have two forces, one under the command of Wellesley, and the other commanded by Colonel Stevenson. Pohlmann plans to fight and defeat them separately, before they can join forces. Wellesley discovers that the enemy army is closer than he thought and fully aware of the situation, but is still determined to attack. Pohlmann sets a trap. He deploys his army at what he is told is the only usable ford of the River Kaitna, but Wellesley deduces that there must be another one, between two villages on opposite banks of the river. Using the second ford, Wellesley crosses the river to try to launch a flank attack, but Pohlmann redeploys to face him. Wellesley's aide is killed during the crossing, and Sharpe takes his place. Back with the baggage, McCandless confronts Hakeswill about the warrant and warns Hakeswill that he knows he lied and that he will inform his commander. On the British left, the 78th Highland Regiment and the sepoys advance through heavy artillery fire and rout much of the Maratha infantry. On the right, however, the 74th and some picquets advance too far towards the village of Assaye and are forced to form square against attack from Maratha light cavalry. Dodd's regiment then attacks the two pinned-down units. Meanwhile, some Maratha gunners retake their guns and fire them into the rear of Wellesley's men, so Wellesley orders a cavalry charge. During the fight, he is unhorsed alone amidst the enemy. Sharpe saves him, single-handedly killing many men. Friendly troops arrive, and a shaken Wellesley leaves. With the collapse of the Maratha right, Dodd is forced to retreat, first towards Assaye then across the River Juah. Hakeswill finds McCandless alone and kills him to save himself. As the Maratha forces flee in disarray, Sharpe comes across Pohlmann, but does not apprehend him. He also finds Simone Joubert. Dodd killed her husband during the retreat, so Sharpe takes her under his protection. Eventually, he catches up to Wellesley's staff and is astonished when Wellesley rewards him by giving him a battlefield promotion, making him an ensign in the 74th. Afterward, Hakeswill tries again to arrest Sharpe, but Sharpe's new commanding officer points out that the warrant for Sergeant Sharpe is useless against Ensign Sharpe. Sharpe forces Hakeswill, who initially refuses to acknowledge Sharpe's new rank, to address him as "sir". 

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Cover of the UK paperback edition It is 1803 and Sir Arthur Wellesley’s army is closing on the retreating Mahrattas in western India. Marching with the British is Ensign Richard Sharpe, newly made into an officer and wishing he had stayed a sergeant. Spurned by his new regiment, he is sent to the army’s baggage train and there finds corruption, romance, treason and enemies old and new. Sergeant Hakeswill wants Sharpe dead, and Hakeswill has powerful friends while Sharpe has only an orphaned Arab boy as his ally. And waiting with the cornered Mahrattas is another enemy, the renegade Englishman, William Dodd, who does not envisage defeat, but only a glorious triumph. For the Mahrattas have taken refuge in Gawilghur, the greatest stronghold of India, perched high on its cliffs above the Deccan Plain. Who rules in Gawilghur, it is said, rules India, and Dodd knows that the fortress is impregnable. There, behind its double walls, in the towering twin forts, Sharpe must face his enemies in what will prove to be Wellesley’s last battle on Indian soil. 

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The year is 1807, and Richard Sharpe is back in England, where his army career appears to be at a dead end. Without love, destitute, and relegated to the job of quartermaster, Sharpe is on the streets of London, contemplating leaving the army. Then a former commanding officer quite unexpectedly invites him to undertake a secret mission to the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Denmark is officially neutral, but Napoleon is threatening an invasion in order to capture the powerful Danish fleet, which could replace the ships France lost in its defeat at Trafalgar. The British, fearing such enhancement of French power, threaten their own preemptive invasion. Sharpe, whose errand seemed so simple, is trapped by the treachery that will end only when the city, which thought itself safe, is subjected to a brutal and merciless bombardment. 

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Sharpe's battalion, acting as rearguard to the British Army in its retreat to Corunna, are cut down by a squadron of French regular cavalry. Sharpe takes up Captain Murray's heavy cavalry sword after Murray dies and takes command of the surviving riflemen (from the 95th Rifles). However, the men do not want to follow him. Their leader, Patrick Harper, and Sharpe fight, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Spanish Major Blas Vivar and his men. Vivar invites the British to travel with him for a while for mutual protection, but does not reveal his hidden agenda. The Spanish commoners hate the French invaders, but are dispirited and need something to rally around. Vivar finally confesses he is taking the gonfalon of Santiago (the biblical saint James) to the city of Santiago de Compostela. According to legend, raising the gonfalon there will summon the saint to Spain's aid; Vivar is certain that the act will rouse his people. However, the city is held by a strong French force. The French are aware of Vivar's goal. A French detachment, accompanied by Vivar's pro-French brother, Tomas, the Count of Mouromorto, pursues Vivar and Sharpe's men. As they march on, Sharpe encounters British Army Captain Michael Hogan, who is pleased to see the small group of soldiers. He also takes the young and beautiful Louisa Parker under his protection and begins to fall in love with her. Eventually, Sharpe reluctantly agrees to help Vivar try to take the city, despite the fact that the Spaniards who rally to Vivar are untrained and are outnumbered by the French garrison. Against all odds, they capture the city and hold it long enough for Vivar to raise the gonfalon. 

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The year is 1805, and Richard Sharpe is heading from India to England aboard the cargo ship Calliope. Also on board is the lovely Lady Grace Hale, whose presence promises to provide intrigue and distraction to an otherwise uneventful voyage home. Uneventful the voyage is not, for the Calliope is captured by a formidable French warship, the Revenant. The French warship is headed to its own fleet, carrying a stolen treaty that, if delivered, could provoke Indians into a new war against the British. The arrival of Admiral Horatio Nelson's well-led fleet leads to a confrontation with the Spanish fleet. 

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It is July 1809. During the Talavera Campaign, Sir Arthur Wellesley's army has entered Spain to confront Marshal Victor. Richard Sharpe and his small group of thirty riflemen, separated from their regiment during the retreat from Corunna, are attached to the newly arrived South Essex Regiment. Commanded by the cowardly and bullying Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Simmerson, the South Essex is a raw, inexperienced unit that has been drilled mercilessly with frequent use of the lash. Sharpe takes it upon himself to shape the inexperienced and poorly trained redcoats into soldiers. He comes into conflict with Simmerson; his nephew, the arrogant Lieutenant Christian Gibbons; and Christian's friend, Lieutenant John Berry. The situation is further complicated by the rivalry that emerges between Sharpe and Gibbons for the affections of Josefina Lacosta, a Portuguese noblewoman who ran way from her husband after he took a mistress. Only two of the South Essex officers appear to have any real experience: Captain Lennox, a veteran of the 78th Highlanders' action at the Battle of Assaye, where Sharpe himself won his commission; and Captain Thomas Leroy, an American Loyalist who was forced to flee his homeland after the American War of Independence. From Talavera, General Wellesley dispatches the South Essex, alongside Sharpe's riflemen and Major Michael Hogan's engineers, to blow up the bridge at Valdelacasa, so as to protect the army's flank as they march. They accompany a Spanish regiment of equal number, the Regimento de la Santa Maria, the seemingly straightforward mission becomes a disaster when both Simmerson and the Spanish unnecessarily cross the bridge to try to engage four squadrons of French dragoons. Due to a combination of arrogance, poor training and incompetence, the two regiments are routed by the French, with hundreds of men killed and wounded, Lennox fatally wounded by the enemy, and the loss of the King's Colours. Sharpe, however, distinguishes himself during the skirmish by saving the South Essex's own colours and capturing a French cannon. As a dying request, Lennox asks Sharpe to take a French Imperial Eagle, "touched by the hand of Napoleon" himself, so as to erase the shame of losing the King's Colours. Wellesley has Sharpe gazetted captain. In an attempt to shift the blame for the fiasco, Sir Henry tries to make Sharpe a scapegoat and intends on ruining Sharpe's career via his connections at Horse Guards. Sharpe concludes that only by capturing an Eagle can he remain in the army and keep his promotion. He also makes enemies of Gibbons and Berry when Josefina falls out with Gibbons, and Sharpe takes her under his protection. They become lovers, although Sharpe is forced to accept sizable loans offered him by Hogan in order to keep Josefina in the manner she is used to. Later, after Josefina is raped by Gibbons and Berry, Sharpe swears vengeance. He murders Berry during a night-time skirmish against the French. At the height of the Battle of Talavera, Simmerson panics at the approach of a French column, and orders the South Essex to withdraw, despite direct orders from the British commander, General "Daddy" Hill, opening a gap in the lines. Sharpe desperately deploys his men to delay the French from exploiting it. Sharpe's old friend, Lieutenant Colonel William Lawford, relieves Simmerson of command and orders the South Essex back into position, where their volleys destroy the column's cohesion. Sharpe leads the Light Company and his rifles into the fray and captures a French regiment's Eagle. Returning from the battlefield, Sharpe is ambushed by Gibbons, who attempts to murder Sharpe and take the Eagle for himself, but is killed by Harper. The capture of the Eagle secures Sharpe's promotion and restores the honour of the South Essex, but Sharpe's triumph is soured somewhat by Josefina's return to Lisbon, under the protection of a wealthy and aristocratic British cavalry captain. Over a celebratory dinner, Wellesley bitterly informs his staff officers that, although the battle was won, the campaign will be accounted a failure, since Spanish General Cuesta has blundered badly, forcing the British to retreat back to Portugal. Wellesley promises that the British will return to Spain, but on their own terms. To Sharpe's surprise and embarrassment, Wellesley concludes his speech by proposing a toast to "Sharpe's Eagle." (This begins Cornwell's practice, in nearly all the Sharpe novels, of ending a book with the use of its title.) 

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In 1868, Christopher Newman, an American businessman, visits Europe on a Grand Tour. Having worked for a living since age ten (interrupted by service in the Union Army during the American Civil War), he has made a large fortune and retired in his thirties, and is now looking to settle down and get married. At the Louvre in Paris he watches a painter named Noémie; he offers to buy the copy she is making, and meets her father, M. Nioche. About the same time a mutual friend introduces Newman to Claire de Cintré, a young widow. Newman hires M. Nioche to teach him French and the two become friendly; Newman, learning that M. Nioche worries about his daughter's future since he is poor, says that he will buy enough paintings from Noémie to give her a respectable dowry. Meeting Newman at the Louvre the next day, though, Noémie frankly tells him that she has no talent and her paintings are worthless. She scorns the men she could marry even with a dowry, and hints that she would prefer a more exciting life. Newman either doesn't understand the hint or ignores it, and he leaves her to her work. He pays a visit to the Bellegarde estate, where he meets Claire's two brothers: the cheerful Valentin and the aloof Marquis de Bellegarde, who coldly rebuffs him. Newman and Valentin become good friends, and eventually he tells Valentin that he wishes to marry Claire; Valentin tells Newman that he has his support but he will find it hard going against the class prejudices of the Marquis and his mother, royalist supporters of the Bourbons. Newman proposes to Claire; after hesitating, because her first husband was abusive, Claire says she will consider it. Newman and Valentin visit the Louvre and find Noémie at work in a gallery. Noémie tells Newman she has finished none of the work she was to do for him, and in irritation she slashes a large red cross over her painting, obliterating it. Afterwards Valentin tells Newman that Noémie is certain to become the mistress of some rich man, though Newman objects that her respectable father would never allow it. Claire's mother tells Newman his "commercial" background makes him unfit, but when he tells her how rich he is, she reluctantly agrees not to oppose him. After some months Claire agrees to marry him, and the Bellegardes have a party in honor of the engagement. Newman hears town gossip that Noémie has become a courtesan; he goes to see M. Nioche, and finds him drinking in misery. While Newman is occupied with arranging the upcoming wedding, Valentin becomes involved with Noémie. At a theater he exchanges insults with a rival and they agree to a duel; he leaves for Switzerland to fight the duel despite Newman's exasperated attempt to talk him out of it. The next day the Bellegardes tell Newman that the engagement is off, and Claire has been ordered to leave for the family's estate in Poitiers. He hardly has time to digest this when he gets a telegram telling him that Valentin, wounded in his duel, is dying. Newman hurries to Geneva where he sits by Valentin's deathbed. Valentin, ashamed of his family's behavior, tells Newman that the Bellegardes have a terrible secret, which he can discover in Poitiers and use against them. Newman goes to Poitiers to attend Valentin's funeral, and afterwards urges Claire to disobey her family and marry him. Claire cannot stand against her mother and intends to become a Carmelite nun. Newman discovers the family secret: Claire's mother indirectly murdered the old Marquis, Claire's father, by throwing out his medicine during his illness and keeping doctors away from him until he died. At first he plans to use the secret against the family, but soon decides that that would be beneath him, and he leaves Paris. Walking in Hyde Park in London he sees Noémie, now a successful woman of fashion, flirting with wealthy men as M. Nioche sits forlornly nearby, and he walks away from them in disgust. After restlessly traveling to New York and San Francisco, he hears that Claire has become a nun; he returns to Paris to look at the walls of the convent from the street, and then leaves Paris for good, resolving never to think of the Bellegarde family again. 

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Jack is all set to discover the city beyond his small town. He meets a farmer on his way who warns him against going to the city. Jack however turns a deaf ear and continues his journey. The farmer tries to kill him for his meal, but Jack eventually escapes with his horse, leaving the hungry farmer in the pit. When he reaches the city he realises that it is populated by toys. He meets a wooden chef at a bar, and realises his horse has been stolen. Jack sets out to search for his horse, but he is hit by someone unknown and he faints on the ground. He is awoken by a teddy bear, Eddie, who is a private detective and the assistant of Bill Winkie (Wee Willie Winkie). Eddie offers Jack partnership in his detective firm, as Bill Winkie is missing. Jack is still shaken by the fact that toys can actually talk and walk and feel like humans, but eventually he comes on terms with it. Eddie informs him that something is wrong in Toy City - someone is killing the rich and famous PPPs: Preadolescent Poetic Personalities. These PPPs have become rich due to the royalties they receive for their poems, like Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, Mary Mary Quite Contrary and Old King Cole. While on their quest to find the murderer, several PPPs are killed. Humpty Dumpty is boiled with a lens above his pool, Bill Winkie – cheated out of the rights to his nursery rhyme by the writer, but a natural detective – simply vanishes while investigating the case, Little Boy Blue is pierced with his crook – the crook impaling him in the rear and exiting through his mouth, Jack Spratt is fried in his ex-wife's diner, Little Tommy Tucker explodes when a bomb is dropped down his throat as he sings a high note, Little Jack Horner is stuffed with jam and Mother Goose is slit open. In all the cases the only clues are hollow chocolate bunnies left at the scene. In their investigation, Eddie and Jack realise that the killer is an evil twin of God-like figure 'Anders Anders' and is called 'Sredna Sredna'. He is the one who had absconded with 'The Manual' (Holy Scripts) and 'The Maguffin', which lets the person get entry into the Toy City from other dimensions. When Jack is confronted by the killer, Sredna reveals that he manufactures lifelike toys who do as their owners command. He plans to rule the world, as he feels that God is too busy creating new worlds and has forgotten this one. He has created toys of Hitler and the President of the USA in order to achieve these aims. Sredna almost kills Eddie and Jack. However, they are saved by Jack's lover, Jill. In the end, Jack is made a prince and paid a hefty sum by the royal PPPs and Eddie is made the Mayor by Anders Anders. 

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Working in a dystopian 23rd century, William Starling finds a painting, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke by Richard Dadd from the 19th Century with the image of a digital watch hidden within it. William takes a drug which confers the ability to tap into ancestral memories. After learning of events occurring in the 19th century, William and Tim are attacked by a Babbage robot sent from the past, and William escapes to the past via the robot's time machine. Stuck in the 19th century in Victorian London, William is greeted by Hugo Rune, who explains to Will that he is his direct descendant. Will learns that 19th Century history is a lie: Charles Babbage's difference engine was a huge success, providing the growing British Empire with robots, digital watches, airships, and even the first rocket to the moon. After returning to London, Will and Hugo take on a case for Sherlock Holmes - to discover the identity of Jack the Ripper to learn more about the witches' cabal. Hugo becomes the Ripper's next victim. Will finds a box in Hugo's trunk containing Barry, the Sprout Guardian. Will uses Barry to return to the future to enlist the aid of Tim. Will and Tim return to the past, meeting an invisible H.G. Wells, the Elephant Man, the Brentford Snail Boy, and another Will from an alternate future. After finding Hugo's true residence in the Buttes Estate, Will and Tim set out to save the 19th Century and the future from the influence of the Witches of Chiswick. Hugo faked his death, not for the first time, and returns to aid Tim and Will. Will discovers that Count Otto is a Babbage robot, controlled by the Will from the alternate future. Driven mad, the alternate Will became evil and committed the Jack the Ripper killings. "Anti-Will" faces Hugo, travels back in time to prevent the Babbage Difference Engine from being recognized, then returns to the circus to finish his goal of controlling the world. When Hugo confesses that 'he' cannot stop the "anti-Will", William realises he can sacrifice himself to defeat his duplicate. Will lunges for "anti-Will" and the pair are destroyed due to the temporal paradox. History is changed, the Victorian era never develops the computer and in the future Will and Tim are born and lead normal lives. Category:Novels by Robert Rankin Category:2003 British novels Category:Fantasy novels Category:British steampunk novels Category:Novels about time travel Category:Cultural depictions of Jack the Ripper Category:Cultural depictions of H. G. Wells 

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Kathleen Conklin, an introverted graduate student of philosophy at New York University, is attacked one night by a woman who calls herself "Casanova." She pushes Kathleen into a stairwell, bites her neck, and drinks her blood. Kathleen soon develops several traditional symptoms of vampirism, including aversion to daylight and distaste for food. She grows aggressive in demeanor, and propositions her dissertation advisor for sex at her apartment, afterward stealing money from his wallet while he sleeps. Jean, a doctoral candidate in Kathleen's cohort, notices a rapid change in Kathleen's personality. During finals week in the library, Kathleen meets a female anthropology student. The two go to the woman's apartment to study, where Kathleen bites her neck. While the young woman weeps incredulously, Kathleen coldly informs her: "My indifference is not the concern here, it's your astonishment that needs studying". Later, Kathleen runs into an acquaintance, who goes by the street name "Black," at a deli. She propositions him for sex and the two leave, but soon attacks him on an empty street and drinks his blood. Later on campus, Kathleen confronts Jean, rambling about the nature of guilt, before proceeding to bite her neck and drink her blood. While walking on the street, Kathleen meets Peina, a vampire who claims to have almost conquered his addiction and as a result is almost human. For a time he keeps her in his home trying to help her overcome hers, recommending she read William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch. Later, Kathleen defends her dissertation to a committee, and is awarded her Doctorate of Philosophy. At the department's graduation party, she and Jean feast on the blood of a waitress in a storage closet. Afterwards, she, Casanova, Jean and some of Kathleen's other victims proceed to attack the other attendees in a bloody, chaotic orgy. Kathleen, apparently overdosed from the bloody bacchanal and looking wracked with regret, wanders the streets. She ends up in a hospital and asks the nurse to let her die, but the nurse refuses. Kathleen decides to commit suicide by asking the nurse to open the curtains. After the nurse leaves, Casanova appears in Kathleen's hospital room, shuts the curtains, and quotes R. C. Sproul to her. Next, a Catholic priest visits Kathleen's room and agrees to administer Viaticum. In the final scene, Kathleen visits her own grave, in broad daylight. In voice-over, Kathleen quotes: "self-revelation is annihilation of self." 

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There is a wall covered with anti-poaching notices and wanted posters of Robin Hood and Little John. Bugs is trying to silence an alarm attached to a carrot he just pulled out of the King's Carrot Patch. He is caught by the Sheriff of Nottingham and is about to be put to the rack when Little John (depicted as a fat goonish fellow) appears and introduces Robin Hood. However, Robin Hood does not appear. Bugs and the Sheriff continue to converse, and Bugs averts the latter's attention by lying about the king's arrival. Bugs clubs the Sheriff while the latter is bowing and runs off. left While examining the castle wall in an attempt to scale it, Bugs is chased by the Sheriff up to the Royal Rose Garden, which the Sheriff regards as "royal ground". Here, Bugs dupes the Sheriff once again by acting as a real estate agent and successfully selling the land to the Sheriff, who plans to turn the garden into a "six-room Tudor". The Sheriff builds the house to half-completion before he realizes he's been tricked and, now infuriated, declares revenge, all the while hitting himself on the head with a hammer. The Sheriff shoots an arrow which grazes Bugs while he is scaling the castle wall. Bugs falls into Little John's hands. Bugs then uses the opportunity to introduce Little John and the Sheriff to each other several times over, diverting the Sheriff's attention once again. During the exchange, the Sheriff spies Bugs leaving and angrily shrugs off Little John. Bugs convinces the Sheriff that the King is indeed coming while the Sheriff tries not to be fooled once again. But when the Sheriff turns to prove to himself that Bugs is just lying, he is surprised to see Bugs dressed first as a clarion player and then as a royal crier before reappearing as the King. The Sheriff recognizing Bugs as the King, obligingly bows down. The famous knighting scene ensues, the titles getting progressively more nonsensical. Afterwards, the Sheriff, already dazed from the repeated hits, sings "London Bridge Is Falling Down" and falls on a cake quickly baked by Bugs during the song. Bugs hears Little John once again introducing Robin Hood, but Bugs interrupts and mocks Little John, remembering Robin's failure to appear the first time. This time however, Little John tells Bugs not to "talk mean like that", as this time, he is telling the truth, and Robin indeed appears (played by Errol Flynn, in live- action footage from The Adventures of Robin Hood). But Bugs brushes it off saying "Nah that's silly, it couldn't be him." 

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The series features Gidget, who is in her late 20s and married to her idol, "Moondoggie" (Dean Butler). The couple live in Santa Monica, California, where Moondoggie works as an architect and Gidget runs the "Gidget Travel Agency" with her long-time best friend, Larue (Jill Jacobson). Gidget and Moondoggie take care of Gidget's niece, Dani (Sydney Penny), who lives with the couple while her parents (Gidget's sister, Anne and husband John) are overseas. Dani is similar to Gidget when she was a teen and was always getting into trouble with her best friend, Gail (Lili Haydn). Gidget's father, Russ (William Schallert), is on hand to provide advice to the young couple and to remind Gidget that Dani's exploits were similar to the ones she experienced (and sometimes caused) as a teen. 

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The film shows six men of different backgrounds enlisting in their National Service. Malcolm; a nerd and "mother's boy", Johari; a large, laid-back hipster Malay man, Krishna; a heroic and loving Indian lover, Ah Beng; a gangster-like delinquent, and Kenny; the effeminate boy who is into women's lifestyle are all introduced as they make their way reporting to the manpower base before assigned to their camp. Malcolm serves as the narrator, the army life is seen through his eyes and thoughts. All six men are placed in Hotel Company Platoon 4, alongside various other males. Prior to enlisting, Malcolm is seen interacting with a shady Mr. X at the manpower base who sells him a guidebook teaching ways of playing truant in the army while Krishna makes a heart to heart final talk with Lathi, his girlfriend. When Platoon 4 is brought to their bunks after bidding farewell to their loved ones, the six men share their thoughts on the current state of affairs, before being introduced to their drill instructor, Corporal (CPL) Ong, who is a tough-as-nails stereotyped army man. He dramatically tells them all about their upcoming life, then leads them all to their mandatory haircut. At night, the six men introduce themselves to one another, with Malcolm finding himself out of the league almost immediately. Training goes on with morning physical training, and soon comes the standard obstacle course. The six are shown trying hard but failing, albeit comically, to get through the various itineraries. The recruits are next shown to learn about camouflage, and again unfortunately, they comically fail, upsetting CPL Ong, who tries his best previously to appease his superior, Captain (CPT) Lim. Soon comes the day relatives and family are allowed to visit the recruits at their camp. Krishna reunites with his lover Lathi dramatically, Ah Beng has his sister Ah Huay outlandishly showing up and Malcolm meets his mother, although she is sickened by the army training her son is put through and demanded to complain. Johari feels his parents aren't coming due to potential weddings to attend, and Kenny dismisses his parents as absent due to holiday. Nevertheless, all six gather for a picture at the moment with Ah Huay photographing. During combat training, the platoon is introduced to an unsurprising instructor; Sergeant (SGT) Wendy Chung. She is tougher than expected, but Ah Beng unwittingly falls for her. Field camp is next. While the six are assigned to bunk with each other under tents, Kenny and Malcolm try to turn their campsite homely which enrages their commanding officer SGT Monteiro. He punishes both to guard duty, and it turns out Krishna is down for it as well since he attempted to feign a reason for absence but is caught (he is revealed to have bought the same book as Malcolm did and tried its contents). Unfortunately, at nightfall during duty, Krishna faints from shock after getting into a scuffle with a python, and Malcolm discovers him. In lieu of this, Second Lieutenant (2LT) Collin Heng decides to pay a visit to Krishna's immediate family alongside CPL Ong and Malcolm, whom he feels they need to meet. With Krishna's parents overseas, Lathi breaks down upon hearing the news but is comforted by 2LT Heng, who inadvertently informally introduces himself, making Lathi enticed by him. Malcolm however notices this. After discharged from the medical center, Krishna returns to his bunk to find it empty, only to realise the entire platoon is given off for outstanding performance. The six surprise greet him, but it goes sour after Kenny tried disclosing that Lathi was flirting with 2LT Heng and he claims it was all seen by Malcolm who vehemently denies saying it is so. Krishna is shocked, demanding for the truth from Malcolm who neither affirms it. Kenny continues to go on a tirade before getting snapped back by Johari who had enough of his antics. Kenny angrily storms off, revealing he was left behind by his parents to serve his NS while they left for Australia without him. Johari and Malcolm go out to pacify him, with Krishna crestfallen before Ah Beng who too tries to do the same. Krishna nearly thinks of breaking up with Lathi but is chided by Ah Beng for being shallow given the circumstances, and Kenny pours out to Malcolm and Johari the undesirable truth his parents said to him about serving his time in the army, to which in fact they are right he needed to be who he is and man up. In a phonecall, Krishna and Lathi manage to reconcile, while Malcolm finally manages to refuse requests from his overprotective mother. The six men bond together as their final days of military training is ending, with each speaking out their desired vocations and the respective responses from one another. The training finally ends with a route march where everyone completes successfully. Graduating from military training, the families of the six come to pick them up and they all share the efforts and camaraderie they have, now bonded not just as soldiers but like brothers. SGT Wendy Chung then introduces star Deanna Yusoff, whom Johari is previously known to be a big fan of. He is stunned by her appearance as he often dreamed of being with her and they share a final picture with everyone. In the end, Malcolm signs on with the army and is a Captain while remaining faithful to his nerdy hobbies, Krishna becomes a lawyer and together with Lathi who becomes famous start a family, Johari joins the media industry and finally gets to work with Deanna, Kenny goes into boutique sales and dreams to become a dance choreographer for big events, and Ah Beng who went onto become a cellphone manager and striking lottery which he buys a diamond ring for SGT Wendy Chung. 

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Harold Meadows (Lloyd) is a tailor's apprentice for his uncle in Little Bend, California. He is so shy around women that he can barely speak to them (to stop his stuttering, his uncle has to blow a whistle). Despite this, Harold writes a "how to" book for young men entitled The Secret of Making Love, detailing how to woo different types of young women, such as "the vampire" and "the flapper" (in scenes that parodied two other popular films of the time, Trifling Women and Flaming Youth), and takes a train to see a publisher in Los Angeles. Harold Lloyd as Harold Meadows, a shy and awkward writer The same day, rich young Mary Buckingham (Ralston) boards the same train after her automobile breaks down in Little Bend. No dogs are allowed aboard, so she hides her Pomeranian under her shawl, but her pet jumps off as the train pulls away. Harold rescues her dog and helps Mary hide it from the conductor. She sees his manuscript, so he starts telling her about his book, overcoming his stuttering in his enthusiasm. They become so absorbed in each other that neither realizes that the train has reached its final destination and everyone else has departed. Upon returning home, Mary rejects the latest in a string of marriage proposals from persistent suitor Ronald DeVore, "the kind of a man that men forget". She knows that the arrogantly-selfish and much-older Ronald does not really love her, but would merely want her as a trophy wife with a large inheritance. After her car is repaired, Mary intentionally detours through Little Bend repeatedly, hoping to see Harold again. On one such trip, Ronald is also along for the ride, and his unwanted attentions cause Mary to swerve and get her car stuck near the outskirts of Little Bend. While Ronald walks back to town for a tow, Mary goes for a walk and happens to reunite with Harold. After telling Mary about the remainder of his book, Harold informs her that he is going to see the publisher, Roger Thornby, in a few days to deliver a new chapter that will be about her. They agree to meet again afterward. Meanwhile, back in Little Bend, Ronald runs into a middle-aged woman who asks if he is finally going to introduce her to his family, but he stalls her, then rides away in the tow-vehicle. Advertisement from Motion Picture News Mr. Thornby's professional readers find Harold's book hilariously absurd, so he rejects it. Without any royalty money, Harold figures he cannot ask Mary to marry him. So he pretends that he was only using her as part of his research. Heartbroken, Mary impulsively agrees to marry Ronald. Afterward, though, one of Mr. Thornby's senior employees convinces him that, if the staff liked the book so much, there must be a market for it, so Thornby decides to publish it as "The Boob's Diary". A few days later, a depressed Harold gets a letter from the publisher, but just rips it up without opening it, assuming that it is a rejection notice. Fortunately, his uncle notices that one of the scraps is part of an advance royalty check for $3,000; the accompanying letter states that the book will be published as a comedy. At first, Harold is outraged, but then he realizes that he can propose to Mary after all. However, when he sees a newspaper headline announcing Mary and Ronald's wedding that same day at her family's estate, he gives up. By chance, the same woman whom Ronald had met a few days earlier walks in and, seeing the newspaper story, tearfully exclaims that she is Ronald's wife. As proof, she shows Harold a locket with the couple's wedding portrait and the engraved words "to my wife" that Ronald had given her two years earlier. (It is never revealed why the wealthy Ronald had married a working-class woman, but it was likely simple greed --- perhaps this lady was the beneficiary of a sizeable life-insurance policy or upcoming inheritance, and so Ronald had secretly married the lady in hopes of accessing her future fortune. Ronald had not informed his family about his marriage to this currently-of-modest-income lady lest they would disapprove; he may also have told his new wife not to let anyone know of their marriage, either, fearing that the lady's benefactor would exclude her from his will if he learned that she now had a rich husband who could provide for her. After meeting the super-affluent Buckingham family and being accepted by Mary's parents as a prospective son-in-law, however, Ronald had simply ceased contact with his wife, knowing that her inheritance would be a paltry sum compared to what Mary would receive.) Harold embarks on a frenzied headlong dash, involving bootleggers, car chases and multiple changes of vehicle (from missing the train to various cars to a trolley to a police motorcycle to a horse-drawn wagon to horseback), through the countryside and along the crowded streets of Culver City and Los Angeles. He bursts in just in time, but he cannot stop stuttering long enough to expose Ronald's intended bigamy. So Harold simply carries Mary off. When they are alone, he tells her about Ronald's secret and shows her the locket. Mary gets Harold to propose (with an assist from a passing mail carrier's whistle), and she accepts. 

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Bob "The Nailer" becomes involved in a plot by dirty big-government types. The story is about how he is first approached and used by them, and their subsequent attempts to end his life. Disenchanted with warfare when invalided out of the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1970s, Bob retreats to a small town in Arkansas, where he lives in a trailer and devotes himself to firearms. Here he is approached by representatives of RamDyne, a black-bag government organization whose personnel commit off-the-record atrocities as needed. The RamDyne people, masquerading as employees of Accutech, a high-end ammo manufacturer, enlist Bob's help. He detects their untruthfulness and confronts them, at which point they "reveal" to him their true motives: foiling an attempt on the life of the President of the United States at the hand of the same Soviet sniper who ended Bob's military career. Bob agrees to work for them but in the end, is framed into the crime of attempted assassination. He escapes the frame and finds himself friendless, pursued by every law enforcement agency in the country, pursued by RamDyne, and suffering two nearly fatal bullet wounds. The major portion of the book details how he escapes the frame, wins absolution for the crime of which he was accused and wins the love of a woman. 

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In 1951, Arkansas attorney Sam Vincent is hired by Davis Trugood, a Chicago lawyer, to verify the death of the Trugood's client's manservant in Thebes, Mississippi, a desolate shantytown cut off from civilization and surrounded by swampland and seemingly impenetrable piney woods. While in Thebes, Sam is roughly arrested for challenging the legality and authority of Thebes' law enforcement and is imprisoned by the local Sheriff. Earl Swagger travels to Thebes with the intent of rescuing Sam after he fails to hear from his friend for several weeks. He succeeds in securing Sam's freedom but is himself captured and incarcerated as the only white man among the inmates of the nearby Thebes penitentiary, a former timber plantation and current forced labor camp for negro convicts and run by ruthless and inhumane white supremacists. The mysterious and unnamed warden instructs his jailers to torture Earl, suspecting him to be a federal investigator interested in the secret workings of the camp. The other inmates apply their acquired hatred of white men to Earl, who must defend himself not only from the guards, but also from his fellow prisoners. Earl escapes by faking his death with the help of an old prison trusty, promising to return and destroy the prison and the evil it represents. He assembles a group of six legendary gunmen (who are based on Elmer Keith, Jack O'Connor, Audie Murphy, Charles Askins, Bill Jordan, and Ed McGivern) with the promise of real action for a just cause and readies them for an assault on Thebes. (Counting Swagger, that brings the number of gunmen to seven, a probable allusion to both The Magnificent Seven - a classic Western film - and Aeschylus' play Seven Against Thebes.) While Earl makes his plans, the inmates at Thebes start to pass along the mysterious phrase, "Pale Horse Coming." Seeking to quell the inmates' stirrings and avoid a potential rebellion, the prison's tyrannical captain of the guards systematically tortures the prisoners in an effort to learn the origins of the phrase. Sam Vincent, ever reluctant to resort to force to settle any matter, including the issue of Thebes, continues to investigate the mysteries surrounding the prison and makes some horrifying discoveries. After narrowly escaping a threat against his and his family's lives, Sam contacts Earl and finally gives Earl his blessing to "fire for effect." It is said that Vincent is never seen without a tie. As the assault on Thebes begins, Davis Trugood, having arrived undetected in Thebes, enters the old plantation house and confronts the warden. The reader learns that Davis Trugood is the warden's estranged half- brother and that the warden hates Davis for being their father's son by a black woman. Earl and his team succeed in destroying the prison, vowing to never again mention Thebes or their dealings there to each other or anyone else. They go their separate ways and Earl returns home to Arkansas and his wife and son. The fictional events of this novel allude to the infamous Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. However the copyright page of the book bears the boilerplate disclaimer that all events are fictional. Category:2001 American novels Category:American thriller novels Category:Novels set in the 1950s Category:Novels set in Mississippi 

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Mike and Carol Brady have a savings account, which both spouses planned to use to bankroll a vacation for the other; Carol wanted to take Mike to Greece, while Mike wanted to treat Carol to a trip to Japan. When they realize their ideas collide, they use the money to try to reunite the entire family for Christmas by paying for airline tickets for their children, grandchildren and their in-laws. However, all of the Brady kids are facing personal obstacles that might keep them from enjoying the festivities: Greg's wife Nora is spending Christmas with her family; Peter is romantically involved with his boss Valerie and his inferior position and salary is affecting his self-confidence; Bobby has dropped out of college to become a race car driver but has not revealed this to his parents; Marcia's husband Wally was fired from his job at a toy company; Jan is separating from her husband Philip and Cindy is fighting for her independence since she is the youngest and still gets treated like the baby of the family. Cindy is currently a college undergraduate and in an issue similar to Bobby's, Cindy lies to her parents about overwhelming college student issues, when in actuality she plans to go skiing in Aspen with her roommates. Even their former housekeeper Alice is dealing with a serious issue: her husband Sam has recently left her for another woman. Through each child deciding to spend the holiday and eventually opening up about their issues, Mike and Carol are able to help them out. Jan got back together Phillip, Bobby told his family that NASCAR racing circuit and Wally got a new job in a toy company who is a friend of Mike's. Mike knew that Wally was fired and helped them out. Nora arrives to surprise Greg. However, the family's Christmas dinner is disrupted when Mike learns that a ruthless businessman he designed a building for has cut corners, resulting in the building collapsing and trapping two security guards inside. Mike manages to free the trapped employees, but an aftershock results in Mike getting trapped in rubble himself. In the end, Mike gets out of the debris after Carol and the entire family sings "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (a nod to Carol singing it in the original series' episode "The Voice of Christmas"). After returning home, the family's dinner is again interrupted, this time by a man at the door dressed as Santa Claus. The kids ask where his bag of presents is, but he tells them that he only has one present, for Alice; it turns out to be Sam, in disguise, who has seen the error of his ways and pleads for Alice's forgiveness. After she takes Sam back, the family invites him to stay for dinner, and the film ends with everyone singing a chorus of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". 

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Sam and Rajesh are students at an Engineering college in Ooty. Sam is a top-performing Computer Science and Engineering student who is very popular with the students and faculty, while Rajesh, a Mechanical Engineering student with several arrears, is notorious for his rebellious attitude and mildly violent and misogynistic behaviour. This contrast in personalities puts the two students at loggerheads throughout their college days, with both of them engaging in constant fights and pranks with each other. Upon graduating, Sam and Rajesh decide never to see each other ever again. Sam goes to the United States for his higher studies while Rajesh decides to stay in India. Two years later, Rajesh is working as a Software Engineering instructor in Chennai and roams around in his free time with his close friend Chockalingam "Chokku". He stays with his grandfather Subbuni, who is a librarian from the Aminjikarai neighbourhood of Chennai. Rajesh's affection for his grandfather is such that he even refuses to accept an on-site opportunity in Singapore so that he can be with him. While on a trip to Bangalore, he comes across a young woman dancing with children in the rain and gets immediately smitten by her when he sees her face lit by the flash of a lightning bolt. He comes across this woman again during his friend's wedding and soon learns that the woman's name is Reena Joseph and she is working as a chartered accountant at Ford in Bangalore. Some days later, Rajesh, who is back in Chennai, notices Reena again, this time exiting a Ford office cab. He and Chokku pursue Reena, but in the process, lose track of her in a mall. Rajesh and Chokku meet Reena's best friend Vasuki at a market, and enquire about Reena. Vasuki informs them that Reena has been transferred to Chennai, however, when she realises that Rajesh is in love with Reena, she angrily mentions that Reena has already been engaged to an Indian American software engineer from Seattle named Rajiv Samuel, who happens to be her childhood friend, hence it would be futile to pursue her. Rajesh is upset at this development; however, on learning that Reena has never seen Rajiv since her childhood, and on the goading and encouragement of Subbuni and Chokku, he decides to pursue Reena. He comes to her house impersonating Rajiv. Reena is smitten by Rajesh and within a few days, she reciprocates Rajesh's love. Rajesh decides to reveal his true identity to her, but before he can, the real Rajiv arrives in Chennai. When Reena realises that the "Rajiv" she loves is an impostor, she breaks up with him and warns him never to come near her again. Rajesh, Chokku and their friends decide to meet Rajiv to somehow convince him to break his engagement with Reena. To Rajesh's shock, he finds out that Rajiv is Sam. Enraged at the fact that Rajesh cheated Reena, Sam refuses to break up their engagement. Rajesh also tries to seek Reena's forgiveness, to no avail, and stalks her while she is on a date with Sam at a restaurant. Sam notices this and both he and Rajesh engage in a brawl which is stopped by Reena, who again warns Rajesh never to come near her. Enraged, Rajesh, Chokku and their friends decide to beat up Sam in a parking lot, but Rajesh backs out at the last minute, accepting the bitter truth that Sam and Reena are going to marry. Heartbroken, Rajesh decides to accept the on-site opportunity in Singapore, which he had earlier rejected, to forget Reena. Meanwhile, Reena realises that she has fallen in love with Rajesh, even though he had cheated her. On the wedding day, Sam realises the love Reena has for Rajesh. He cancels the wedding and takes Reena to the airport, where Rajesh is about to board a flight to Singapore. Sam approaches Rajesh and tells him that although they will always be enemies, he cannot marry a girl who does not love him. He wishes Rajesh and Reena well and leaves. Rajesh and Reena reunite. 

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The Killers is an adaptation of a short story by Ernest Hemingway. The story is divided into three scenes. The first and third scenes were directed by Beiku and Tarkovsky, the second by Gordon. The first scene shows Nick Adams (Yuli Fait) observing two gangsters (Valentin Vinogradov and Boris Novikov) in black coats and black hats entering a small-town diner where Adams is eating. They tell the owner, George (Aleksandr Gordon), that they are searching for the boxer Ole Andreson and that they want to kill him. They tie up Nick Adams and the cook, and wait for Ole Andreson to appear. Three customers enter the restaurant and are sent away by George. One of the customers is played by Tarkovsky, who whistles Lullaby of Birdland. The second scene shows Nick Adams visiting Ole Andreson (Vasiliy Shukshin) in his hide- out, a small room. He warns Andreson about the two gangsters, but Andreson is resigned to his fate and unwilling to flee. The third scene shows Adams returning to the diner and informing the owner of Andreson's decision. 

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Construction workers find an old cache of bombs from World War II in an unnamed Russian town. An army unit is charged with solving this problem. The municipal committee decides that exploding the bombs would inflict too much damage on the town and so the army unit must transport the bombs manually to a safe site. After the entire town is evacuated, the soldiers carry the bombs one by one to the armored transport truck. The danger of explosion looms. As the army unit concludes its mission the population returns to the town as the bombs are simultaneously destroyed at the safe site. 

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The story is based on real events and real people and is set in the mid-1950s freehold township of Sophiatown, Johannesburg-- one of the few areas in South Africa where blacks could own property and drink alcoholic beverages. Drum begins with the central character, sportswriter Henry Nxumalo, reporting on a boxing match with Nelson Mandela. Nxumalo leaves his wife Florence at home while going out into his community's night life and has an affair with a female singer. He works for Drum magazine, which was "the first black lifestyle magazine in Africa." The magazine was financed by whites and had a multiracial staff; it was popular among the black community. Drum's British editor, Jim Bailey (Jason Flemyng), asks Nxumalo to write on the township crime scene, and Nxumalo, while at first unwilling, finally agrees. While on the job, he encounters Slim (Zola), a gang leader, that he had previously met in illegal township drinking places, and witnesses him kill a man in Sophiatown. Initially Nxumalo stays away from political articles, but eventually writes about more than entertainment after his wife and Mandela encourage him. When a young man goes missing at a Boer farm and is feared enslaved, Nxumalo decides to investigate undercover. He gets employment as a labourer at the farm, where he is treated like a slave and nearly killed. He becomes a celebrity when his story is published, further reinforced by getting himself in prison and reporting about its conditions. Nxumalo decides that his destiny is to be a muckraker and, with the help of the German photographer Jürgen Schadeberg (Gabriel Mann), ventures on more risky investigations. Nxumalo frequently fights the racism and apartheid that is beginning to creep into his hometown. He tries to tackle stories important to his society's well- being. However, he is no match to the plan to evict residents and ultimately destroy Sophiatown. Constantly harassed by the government, at the end of the film he is stabbed to death. The attacker has never been identified. 

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The miniseries details Insane Clown Posse's attempts to stop a demon named Killnor from destroying a priest named Father Jesus, who possesses miraculous healing powers. Killnor summons the undead duo Twiztid, a crazed police SWAT team, and a host of demonic minions to stop the clowns. Insane Clown Posse call upon the assistance of the Joker's Cards to overcome the minions. An all-out showdown takes place at the demon's earthly headquarters with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance of the Pendulum. 

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It is the story of two women, one from Ireland and one from America, who trade houses without ever having met. They're both looking for an escape from their problems, but by running away, both come to discover a great deal about themselves. The book mostly concentrates on the life of Ria Lynch, the Irish woman, who has met her future husband Danny Lynch. The two end up getting married, much to Ria's shock and delight, and start a family together while Danny's career takes off. Many years into their marriage, Danny begins spending less and less time at home with his wife and children. Ria believes another baby is the solution, and is shocked to find out that indeed her husband is going to be a father...but to a child from an affair he has been having with another woman. Her husband's unfaithfulness is the event that leads Ria into her decision to switch homes with the lady from America. Tara Road was made into a film in 2005. 

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When Fella's (Jerry Lewis) father dies, he continues to live with his wicked stepmother, Emily (Judith Anderson), and her two sons, Maximilian (Henry Silva) and Rupert (Robert Hutton). His stepfamily takes over the family mansion, while Fella is reduced to living in an unfinished room at the end of a long hallway. He has in essence become their butler, catering to their every whim. Fella dreams nightly that his father is trying to relay a message to him about where he has hidden his fortune, but he always awakens before he learns the hiding place. His stepfamily knows of this secret fortune and some go to great lengths to discover its whereabouts, while others pretend to befriend him in order to wrangle Fella's fortune away once it is found. Princess Charming (Anna Maria Alberghetti) of the Grand Duchy of Morovia is in town, so the stepmother decides to throw her a lavish ball in order to get her to marry one of the sons. Fella is not allowed to go to the ball, but his fairy godfather (Ed Wynn) says he will not remain a "people" much longer, but will blossom into a "person." Before the ball, Fella is turned into a handsome prince. Count Basie's orchestra is playing at the ball when Fella makes his grand entrance. The young man quickly gains the attention of the Princess and they dance. The night is cut short when midnight strikes and Fella flees, losing his shoe along the way. Back home, one of Fella's stepbrothers realizes that Fella is the supposed "prince." They wind up in a struggle under a tree, in the process discovering that this is where Fella's father's fortune is hidden. Fella, who always knew where the money was to begin with, gives the money to his stepfamily, saying he never needed money to be happy, he only wanted a family. Shamed, his stepmother orders her sons to return the money to Fella. The Princess arrives with Fella's lost shoe, but Fella explains that they could never be together because she is a "person" and he is a "people." She tells him that, underneath the fancy clothes, she is a "people" too. 

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Powerful relics known as Precious have started to appear throughout the world. However, the various Negative Syndicates wish to take the Precious for themselves and utilize them for evil means. To make sure that the Precious do not fall into the hands of the Negative Syndicates, the Search Guard Successor Foundation has developed its own special operations team, the Boukengers, to do battle and collect some of the more dangerous Precious. 

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Based in part on McDougall's experience as an officer with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, Execution follows the fictional Canadian 2nd Rifles Brigade during the Italian Campaign of 1943. Led by the flamboyant Brigadier Ian Kildare (a modern miles gloriosus, or braggart soldier), the Canadians invade Sicily where they meet with little resistance from the Italian Army, composed mostly of hapless conscripts who want no part in the war. Despite Kildare's strict orders for his men to shoot Italian deserters on sight, the Canadians take kindly to a pair of buffoonish Italian deserters, more notable for their culinary skills than military prowess. Impetuously, Kildare orders the Canadians to execute the Italians. The Canadians are caught between the obligation to follow orders and the sense that executing the two Italians in cold blood is ethically unjustifiable--not to mention it being a violation of the Geneva Convention. The brutal execution of the two Italians forces the Canadians to confront the ethics of warfare, now that "the enemy" is no longer a distant and faceless target. Major Bunny Bazin, the most battle-hardened and philosophical of the Canadians, voices the novel's central theme when he states that "execution is... the ultimate degradation of man." Here the term "execution" works both literally (the killing of the Italians as a brutal act) and as a metaphor (war as a form of mass execution). The novel's main protagonist, Lieutenant (later Major) John Adam (a semi-autobiographical foil for McDougall), is an efficient soldier and leader, who nevertheless finds "the vulture fear" inhabiting his soul after the execution of the Italians. Bound to protect and lead his men as they march through Italy, from Ortona to the Hitler Line near Monte Cassino, Adam finds himself struggling to maintain the composure fitting a commander, as an inner "horror" gnaws at his conscience (Adam's reflections occasionally resemble those of Marlow in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness). Eventually, Adam and his men stumble on a chance to redeem themselves when one of their own comrades, Rifleman Jones, a mildly retarded but efficient infantryman, is sentenced to be executed for treason by his own army, after he falls in with a ring of corrupt soldiers who murder an American. Although everyone, including a newly promoted General Kildare, knows that "Jonesy" is a scapegoat for the real murderers, the execution must go ahead out of political expediency. Led by Adam, the men wage a tenacious campaign to have Jonesy freed, but all efforts eventually fail. When Jonesy is led out to be executed, the officer in charge of the execution faints, and Adam is forced to command the firing squad himself. Execution ends with Adam and the other men regaining a measure of their lost confidence, although Major Bazin dies on the battlefield. 

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The scenario opens with narration about superstition and the abilities of vampires. A truck is loaded at the Port of Los Angeles, and as it climbs to a gated mansion in the Southern California hills, the cargo is revealed to be a coffin. Donna hosts a séance in hopes of contacting her recently deceased mother. At the party are several of her friends and Count Yorga, a mysterious Bulgarian mystic who performs the séance. Donna becomes hysterical during the proceedings, and Yorga uses hypnosis to calm her. After the party is over, Erica Landers and her boyfriend Paul offer to drive the Count home. Not long after the three leave, in the after-party conversation with friends, Donna reveals that she knows Yorga from being her mother's boyfriend, adding that the two were dating a few weeks shortly before her death and in fact, Yorga had insisted that her mother be buried rather than cremated as she originally requested in the event of death. Yet oddly, she cannot recall seeing him at her mother's funeral. Meanwhile, Erica and Paul drop off Yorga at his home. However, their van gets stuck in the mud outside of Yorga's mansion, although Paul notices the road was dry a minute ago, and the two resign themselves to spend the night in their van. After making love, the two lie down to fall asleep. However, Erica senses someone outside and looks out the window, finding Yorga who now has pale skin and baring fangs, revealing himself to be a vampire. Erica's scream awakens Paul, but Yorga quickly knocks him out as he's leaving the van before approaching the helpless Erica. The following day, Paul tells Michael Thompson, Donna's boyfriend, about the attack. Paul did not see their attacker, and Erica does not remember the attack at all. Erica visits Dr. Hayes to have the mysterious bite wounds on her neck inspected. In contrast to her exuberant personality on the night before, Erica now seems despondent and listless. Hayes notices she has lost a lot of blood. Unable to diagnose the cause, he recommends rest and a high protein diet. Shortly after, Paul and Michael discuss the strange changes in Erica's behavior. They try to check in on her via phone but she just drops the phone to the floor without answering it. The concerned men then drive to her home where they find the place in disarray, and a hysterical Erica eating her pet kitten. She reacts erratically to their presence, first threatening them with violence and then attempting to seduce Paul before coming to her senses and breaking down. They restrain her and call Dr. James Hayes, who begins an emergency blood transfusion. Erica babbles incoherently, apparently afraid of something, begging Paul to forgive her and even kill her, but when asked of what has her scared, she state she does not know, just to "Not let it happen". Meanwhile, Yorga awakens in his manor and heads to his basement which has been converted into a throne room where his two vampiric-brides lie on slabs. One of them is shown to be Donna's mother whom he had drained, made into an undead servant, and dug up her body after she was buried. He awakens the two and watches as they have sex, presumably using his powers of mind-control to compel them to do so. Although Michael is skeptical, the three men consider the possibility of vampirism as an excuse for Erica's behavior and agree to look into it while letting Erica rest. That night, Yorga visits Erica while Paul sleeps downstairs. Promising her immortality, he seduces Erica, drains her of her remaining blood and takes her back to his manor. Paul, upon finding Erica missing, rashly goes to Yorga's mansion to rescue her. Yorga easily kills him by choking him to death, then having his servant, Brudah break his back. Michael alerts Hayes that Paul has gone to the mansion, and Hayes confides that Paul's lack of preparation will probably lead to his death. While mulling over his options, Hayes' girlfriend suggests involving the police, citing an eerily similar case of a baby being found in the woods, drained of its blood with bite wounds on the neck. He takes it to heart and calls the police, but is rejected as a deluded prankster following a recent rash of such calls. Hayes, Michael, and Donna go to the mansion themselves to inquire about Paul's whereabouts and keep Yorga active until sunrise. While Hayes distracts Yorga with enthusiastic questions about Yorga's occult experiments, Brudah rebuffs Michael's attempts to explore the mansion. Michael and Hayes switch places to keep Yorga off his guard, but Yorga becomes increasingly insistent that it is late and his guests must leave. Yorga distracts Hayes and strengthens his hypnotic control over Donna. After leaving the manor, Hayes convinces Michael that killing Yorga will not be easy: vampires have greater strength and the wisdom that comes from living much longer than a "mere mortal". He also grimly adds they might have to kill Paul and Erica too if they have become vampires, since the vampire curse will make them evil and loyal only to Yorga. They plan to attack later that afternoon in the hopes of killing Yorga in the daytime. Michael and Donna rest while Hayes studies vampire lore until he, too, falls asleep. Yorga awakens Donna telepathically and has her sabotage Michael's alarm clock before having her come to the mansion. On her arrival, Brudah rapes her. When Michael awakens, he finds Donna gone and that it is nearly evening when he calls to awaken Hayes. Despite knowing how dangerous their chances are, they stock up on stakes and makeshift crosses before heading to Yorga's mansion as night falls. The two split up, and Hayes is confronted by Yorga. Both drop the pretense that Yorga is anything but a vampire, and Yorga leads Hayes into his basement where his vampire-brides lie dormant. Hayes finds Erica's body among them, finding no heartbeat or pulse when he examines her. He then attacks Yorga with cross and stake, while yelling out for Michael (who hears Hayes and begins to run in the direction of his call). Yorga is irritated by Hayes' cross and taunts the doctor as he silently commands his brides to awaken. With Hayes' back to the approaching brides and his attention fixed on Yorga, the brides attack and drain the helpless Hayes. Yorga reunites Donna with her mother. Michael finds Paul's mutilated body while navigating the crypt. Brudah attacks him, but Michael stabs him, presumably to death. Michael manages to reach the throne room but finds Hayes as he lays dying from bite wounds and blood loss. With his last breath, Hayes tells Michael where Donna is. Just as he does, Erica, now a vampire and completely under Yorga's control, and an unnamed, redheaded vampire charge into the room. Michael fends them off, chasing away the redhead while Erica pauses, giving Michael a chance to stake her. Despite seeing she is no longer the Erica he knows, he cannot bring himself to do so, and proceeds upstairs while she hisses at him. On the way to the staircase, Brudah emerges from the living room, holding his profusely bleeding knife wound, intent on attacking Michael. Michael, somewhat stunned that Brudah is still alive, moves up the staircase as Brudah reaches out for him. Brudah then collapses, finally dying. Upstairs, Michael confronts Yorga and Donna's mother. Yorga pushes Donna's mother into Michael's stake and flees. Michael follows, and Yorga ambushes him outside the room. Michael rams the charging Yorga with his stake, killing him. Donna mourns her mother a second time before Michael collects her. He and Donna watch Yorga turn to dust. As they start to leave, they are confronted by Erica and the redheaded bride who, despite Yorga's death, still remain as vampires. They chase Michael and Donna downstairs until repelled by Michael's cross. As the vampire women are forced back and toward a cellar, Erica glances ominously at Donna. Michael locks them in and takes Donna's hand, believing the danger is over. However, as he turns to leave, Donna hisses and lunges at him, fangs bared, fully transformed into a vampire; he was too late to prevent Yorga from turning her. In a final line of voice-over, the narrator sarcastically disputes that vampirism is just superstition as he laughs evilly. The film ends on a shot of Michael's bloodied and lifeless corpse. 

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Eiko is in the search of the okiya run by the geisha Miyoharu. As she approaches the screen doors, she witnesses an exchange between Miyoharu and a client. The client, greatly indebted and unable to afford Miyoharu's services, is coldly and mockingly berated by Miyoharu for his presumptuousness. Enraged by the sudden demise of her affected desire for him and her mercenary attitude, he tries to assault her but is thwarted and summarily evicted by Miyoharu's servants. As he sees the client off the premises, one of the servants finds Eiko at the door and invites her inside. In supplication, Eiko reveals that the death of her mother, has left her at the mercy of her uncle, who demands that Eiko repay the debt incurred by her mother's funeral expenses by rendering sexual services to him. She pleads with Miyoharu to take her on as an apprentice maiko. Miyoharu attempts to dissuade her, on the grounds that life as a geisha is difficult and the training exceptionally arduous, but in the face of Eiko's determination she finds sympathy for the girl's situation and concedes. She sends her servant to procure the formal consent of Eiko's father, a struggling businessman, but he refuses to grant permission on the grounds that Eiko has shamed him by choosing to enter her mother's profession. Eiko has achieved the necessary level of training to be formally introduced as a maiko, under her professional name Miyoei. In order to make the arrangements for her debut. Okimi, the proprietor, grudgingly assents to assist her with the money. In Okimi's teahouse, the two geishas are seated with Kusuda and his associate, who are in the process of convincing a manager on the verge of promotion to the directorship of another prosperous company. Kanzaki is instantly taken with Miyoharu and strokes her arm during a subsequent dance recital performed by other attending geisha. Kusuda preys upon the vulnerable Miyoei, by pouring her consecutive glasses of sake that she is obliged by etiquette to drink, despite Miyoharu's remonstrations. Miyoei asks her instructor about her rights as set out under the post-war constitution, and on her rights should a client desire to force himself upon her. The instructor answers that while she does indeed have these rights, it would be unthinkable for her to refuse a client. Miyoharu is extremely resistant to the proposal, although when Okimi reveals that she borrowed the money for Miyoei's debut from Kusuda on the promise that he would be entitled to take her on later, Miyoharu is obliged to take it under consideration. Okimi also suggests that Miyoharu herself take on a patron, to assure her future and Miyoei's. Later, at the teahouse, Okimi tries to directly persuade the recalcitrant Miyoei to accede to Kusuda's proposal. Miyoei manages to remain aloof and promises to think on it. She flirts with Kusuda as Miyoharu entertains Kanzaki, subtly fending off his advances. They encounter Miyoei's father, who has fallen on extremely hard times and tells Miyoharu that his debts have become so crippling that suicide will soon be his only resort. Kusuda's associate explains to Okimi that while they are prepared to 'forgive' Miyoei for her treatment of Kusuda, their principal concern is with Miyoharu's reluctance to aid them in seducing Kanzaki, which must be remedied before they can continue to patronise the teahouse. Okimi arranges a meeting with Miyoharu, who she sharply criticises for her insolence in thwarting a client's desires and demeaning her profession. Okimi flaunts her influence over Miyoharu, threatening to cut off her custom, but Miyoharu refuses to relinquish either herself to Kanzaki or Miyoei to Kusuda. As a consequence of her refusal, all Miyoharu's engagements are called off by teahouse proprietors afraid of Okimi's influence, despite district regulations prohibiting the inhibition of other establishments' custom by any one proprietor. Miyoei's father, in a pathetic state, also pays Miyoharu a visit as his last recourse to secure a loan and save his life from his debtors. While highly critical of his hypocrisy in seeking assistance from the earnings of the daughter he disowned, she offers him her last remaining possessions. Despite Miyoharu's support for her actions to defend her rights and insistence that she maintain her dignity, Miyoei defies her and presents herself to Okimi to be taken to Kusuda. Okimi is obliged to call Miyoharu to obtain her formal consent, which Miyoharu denies. Miyoharu returns to the okiya laden with gifts for Miyoei. Wary of the sudden change in their fortunes, Miyoei demands to know whether Miyoharu prostituted herself to Kanzaki and threatens to leave if her suspicions are confirmed. Miyoharu is forced to admit that she did, but it was just to protect Miyoei because she is the closest person she has to family and they reconcile. 

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On a foggy night, Jean (Jean Gabin), an army deserter, catches a ride to the port city of Le Havre. Hoping to start over, Jean finds himself in a lonely bar at the far edge of town. However, while getting a good meal and civilian clothes, Jean meets Nelly (Michèle Morgan), a 17-year-old who has run away from her godfather, Zabel, with whom she lives. Jean and Nelly spend time together over the following days, but they are often interrupted by Zabel, who is also in love with her, and by Lucien, a gangster who is looking for Nelly's ex-boyfriend, Maurice, who has recently gone missing. Jean resents the intrusions of Lucien and twice humiliates him by slapping him. When Nelly finds out that her godfather killed Maurice out of jealousy, she uses the information to blackmail him and prevent him from telling the police that Jean is a deserter. Though the two are in love, Jean plans to leave on a ship for Venezuela. At the last minute Jean leaves the ship to say goodbye to Nelly; he saves her from the hands of Zabel, whom he kills, but when they go out on to the street he is shot in the back by Lucien and dies in her arms. 

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Factory worker Tom Curtis (Richard Attenborough) has two children and his wife, Anna (Pier Angeli), is pregnant, putting him under financial pressure. Consequently, he refuses to take part in an unofficial strike, meaning a loss of wages, which he is entitled to do. The strike is planned by outside activist Travers (Alfred Burke) and orchestrated by shop steward Bert Connolly (Bernard Lee), who concocts spurious demands as part of his campaign to pressure the management into agreeing to a closed shop, giving the union greater influence. Those who continue to work find that their properties are subject to repeated attacks, including bricks through windows and arson, and join the strike out of fear. Curtis alone continues to work in a show of defiance against threats and intimidation. When the strike ends, Curtis is accused of being a scab and sent to Coventry. Then, when anti-union newspapers interview him and report on his plight, Connolly demands his dismissal, backing his demand with a work to rule and overtime ban. Management fears that continued publicity will mean the loss of a major contract, while some workers take matters into their own hands. 

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Pierre, an idealistic twenty-year-old man, leaves his home in a remote district of the Pyrenees to travel to Paris, hoping to break away from his restrictive provincial life. Arriving in the French capital, he turns to the only person he knows in the city, Evelyne, a middle aged nurse, whom he had briefly met when working as a stretcher-bearer at Lourdes. She is vague and distracted, being preoccupied by the paralyzed mother with whom she lives. Nevertheless, she manages to get Pierre a job in the kitchen of a hospital. He finds somewhere to stay and, in order to fulfill his childhood dream, buys a book on how to become an actor. A colleague at work, Said, takes him to dinner with two middle-aged men: they are both gay. The cellist, Dimitri, is Said's lover, and the intellectual television personality, Romain, is fascinated by Pierre but insists his interest is platonic. Pierre is disgusted by the evening and when Romain gives him a ride home and stops in a park that is a pick up point for hustlers, he walks off in a huff, refusing to get back into Romain's car. Evelyne takes Pierre to an expensive restaurant to make up for her earlier indifference. They return to her house and spend the night together. She offers him free accommodation, he moves in and they start an affair. Pierre begins to attend acting classes but shows little talent. When he has to prepare for "Hamlet", he recites the role with no feelings and even forgets his lines. Humiliated, he flees in abandonment from his tentative ambition to become an actor. His relationship with Evelyne also comes to an abrupt end. She feels that he does not really love her and breaks away from him. When she leaves him some money, Pierre feels insulted, returns the money, and leaves the place she had offered him. He goes absent from work pleading illness and eventually loses his job. Homeless and forced to sleep on the streets, he falls victim to thieves who steal all his belongings. Now broke and homeless, Pierre returns to the park where Romain took him in, and sees him again. Pierre's offer of sexual favors is refused, but Romain takes him on a trip to Spain. In Seville, the older man takes someone else as a lover and Pierre returns to Paris. With no job or home, Pierre has to adopt prostitution as his only way to make money. He makes his rules very clear to prospective male clients: "I don't kiss, I don't suck, I don't get fucked". Despite his initial aversion to sex with men, Pierre manages to make a success of his new career. During a police crackdown on streetwalkers, he meets Ingrid, another prostitute. He becomes infatuated with Ingrid, whose dream had been to become a singer. Both are arrested and after a night in jail, they spend an idyllic day together. They make love, but their liaison is discovered by her pimp, who with his gang beats up and rapes Pierre, forcing Ingrid to watch. Pierre leaves Paris and joins the paratroops; he voices to an interviewing officer a desire for revenge, and also for the "leap into the void" involved in parachuting at night. On a visit home, he tells his brother that he did not hate the city, he just was not ready for it. On release from his service, and about to leave once again for Paris and an open future, Pierre stops off at the beach, takes his clothes off and wanders into the sea. 

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The film is about two working class women, Isa and Marie. Isa is a drifter and searching for a lover whom she had met during the summer. When she realizes that her search for him is futile and turns elsewhere, she meets Marie, who lives in a small French town near Lille. The two young women instantly find a connection as they both have been treated harshly by life and are living from day to day in short-time jobs, such as working in a textile factory or delivering leaflets in the streets. Marie lives in an apartment that she is looking after because the owners had a car accident in which everyone died, except for Sandrine, a teenager, who is in a coma. Marie invites Isa to live with her. Shortly thereafter Isa and Marie meet up with two bouncers, Fredo and Charly, whom they befriend. The men help them out and they have genuine fun together, although they are not much better off than the women. Isa is the kind of girl who always lands on her own two feet and has a casual c'est la vie attitude when it comes to life and generally doesn't let the hardships get to her, while Marie finds it hard to express herself emotionally, and gets angry when she feels vulnerable. Marie cannot put up with the way she is tossed around by the world, and so, despite being in a relationship with Charly, she tries to escape through a local playboy, Chriss, a rich nightclub owner, who regularly goes out with girls and views Marie as just another one of his random flings. Isa is tougher in that she can take the beating and stick with what is around her, and does not get carried away by the false possibility of a better life. Significantly, Isa refuses to sleep with her casual boyfriend Fredo, drawing her strength from within, while Marie is emotionally dependent on Chriss, who, it is clear, does not love her. Isa is well aware of Chriss's true intentions and tries to warn Marie, who refuses to listen. Isa finds Sandrine's diary and reads it to her during visits in the hospital. Meanwhile, Chriss decides to end his fling with Marie. Instead of breaking up with her in person, he asks Isa to tell her for him (she replies "it's not for me to tell her"), clearly afraid Marie would self-destruct in front of him, then leaving Marie's later calls unreturned. Meanwhile, Sandrine comes out of her coma, but Isa, who has visited her so faithfully while she was in a coma, decides not to see her while she is awake. After finally learning about Chriss' decision to end the relationship, Marie jumps out of a window. The film ends with Isa starting to work in a new factory. 

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David Fowler (Reynolds) is a successful sculptor whose fast and loose lovelife slams him head-on into a mid-life crisis when his insatiable hunger for women begins to render him socially, artistically, and sexually impotent. His quest to end his losing streak leads him to the couch of attractive psychiatrist Marianna (Andrews), to whom David must explain everything—beginning with his first sexual encounter—in an attempt to regain control of his life. David relates his exploits, including an affair with Louise, a beautiful woman married to a Texas millionaire, who likes to have sex in risky public places. He also has a fling with Agnes, mistaking her for a woman he saw on the street whose legs were all of her that he could view. David ultimately falls in love with Marianna, his therapist, who must cease seeing him as a patient to indulge their affair. His funeral draws women of all kinds, lining up to pay their last respects. 

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Montpellier: December 1976. At the funeral of Bertrand Morane, Genevieve (Fossey) observes the other mourners, all women once involved with him. The following is told in flashback. Morane (Denner), a man in early middle-age, works in a laboratory testing the aerodynamics of aircraft, and pursues women in a compulsive, but casual manner without showing any signs of a capacity for commitment. He goes to extraordinary lengths to locate a woman he had seen, only to discover she was briefly visiting France and lives in Montreal. Bertrand becomes friendly with Hélène (Fontanel), who runs a lingerie shop, but she confesses to being attracted to younger men; she is forty-one, and does not become involved with men older than thirty. He has an affair with Delphine (Borgeaud), the wife of a doctor, who gains arousal from the threat of discovery, but she is imprisoned for the attempted murder of her husband. He recollects his childhood and his relationship with his distant mother, remembering her legs in shots reminiscent of the frequent leg shots of women in the film. He pretends to have a child in need of baby sitting in order to lure a young woman to his apartment. When she discovers the doll he has put in his bed in place of a baby and asks him what this is, he replies, "It's me". After a number of very casual encounters, Bertrand contracts gonorrhea, discovered at a very early stage, but is unable to recollect the names of the six women he has slept with in the previous twelve days. Eventually, he begins his autobiography only for his typist to find the content too much to continue. Completed, it is submitted to the four leading publishers in Paris. A member of the editorial staff at one of them, Genevieve, stands up for the work against the objections of her (male) colleagues. Rejecting his title for the book, she suggests The Man Who Loved Women, which he finds ideal. Bertrand meets Véra (Caron), a significant old flame, while the book is at the proof stage, and insists on withdrawing the book from publication because he had neglected to mention her. Genevieve though persuades him to make Véra the subject of his second book; he needs to like himself she says. By now, Genevieve has fallen in love with him, in spite of recognizing his personality flaws, but he is hit by a car while rushing to follow two women with attractive legs. Admitted to the hospital and forbidden to move, he sees nurses in his doorway and, attracted by their legs, accidentally severs his drip, falls out of his bed, and dies. At the funeral, Genevieve speculates on the other women's relationship with Bertrand, she does not speak to them, and reflects that it is only herself who knows the ending. 

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Part of the area of Vasquez Rocks, used for filming the Mintaka III surface scenes. Also used for the Vulcan surface scenes in The Voyage Home The Federation starship Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, arrives at the planet Mintaka III to resupply and repair a Federation outpost being used to monitor the Mintakan people, a proto-Vulcan race near a Bronze Age level of cultural development. As the Enterprise assists the outpost, an accident causes the holographic rockface to disappear, exposing the outpost to Liko, a Mintakan. Liko attempts to approach and is hit with an electrical shock, which causes him to fall off the cliff and sustain critical injuries. When Chief Medical Officer Dr. Crusher rushes to provide aid, she realizes the injuries are too severe to treat there and has him transported to the Enterprise for treatment despite the action violating the Prime Directive. Liko becomes conscious and witnesses everything occurring in Sick Bay, and focuses on Picard giving instructions. Dr. Crusher is able to heal Liko and attempts to wipe his memory of the incident before returning him to the planet. First Officer Riker suggests that he and Counselor Troi disguise themselves as Mintakans in order to search for Palmer, a missing member of the anthropological team, and to monitor Liko, to make sure the memory wipe worked. They discover to their horror that the mind wipe did not take, as Liko recalls an image of "the Picard", and has convinced other Mintakans that the Picard must be their god. Troi and Riker subtly try to dispel the myth of the Picard, which gains traction until a hunting party arrives with a delirious Palmer in tow. While Troi provides a diversion, telling the clan that another "like Palmer" is heading for the caves, Riker ties up an elderly man who was left behind to keep an eye on Palmer, and Riker and Palmer run away, and narrowly escape back to the Enterprise. Unfortunately, Troi is captured and held captive for her hand in the escape, leaving Picard to take steps to rectify the situation without further violation of the Prime Directive. He transports Nuria, the leader of the village where Troi is being held, to the Enterprise and attempts to show her that he and the rest of the crew are mortal, including having her witness the death of a crewman in Sickbay. Picard returns with Nuria to the surface in the middle of a thunderstorm, which Liko has taken as a sign of the Picard's anger. Nuria attempts to rationalize with Liko, but Liko demands his own proof of Picard's mortality and aims an arrow at Picard. Picard insists that if that is the only proof that Liko will accept, then Liko should shoot. Liko does, but his daughter pushes him so that he only wounds Picard. Nuria shows Liko Picard's blood from the wound, and Liko and the others come to accept that Picard is not a god. Picard and Troi return to the Enterprise, and after he is treated, Picard returns to the surface one last time, and explains to the Mintakans that they will be removing the outpost and allowing them to develop on their own. Before Picard leaves, Nuria gives Picard a Mintakan tapestry as a gift. 

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Three men, previously unknown to each other, are arrested in New Orleans and placed in the same cell. Both Zack (Waits), a disc jockey, and Jack (Lurie), a pimp, have been set up, neither having committed the crime for which they have been arrested. Their cellmate Bob (Benigni, in his first international role), an Italian tourist who understands minimal English, was imprisoned for accidental manslaughter. Zack and Jack soon come to blows and thereafter avoid speaking to each other. Bob has an irrepressible need for conversation. He hatches a plan to escape, and before long the three are on the run through the swamp surrounding the prison. Hopelessly lost and with a simmering hatred between Jack and Zack almost causing the party to split up, they are brought together by Bob's ability to provide food. The trio eventually chances across a house in the forest, the residence of Nicoletta (Braschi). Bob and Nicoletta instantly fall in love, and Bob decides to stay with her in the forest. Zack and Jack go their separate ways—an unspoken, begrudging friendship hanging between them as they part. 

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Of the later Greek and Roman writers the Neo-Platonist Plotinus deserves to be mentioned. According to him, objective reason (nous) as self-moving, becomes the formative influence which reduces dead matter to form. Matter when thus formed becomes a notion (logos), and its form is beauty. Objects are ugly so far as they are unacted upon by reason, and therefore formless. The creative reason is absolute beauty, and is called the more than beautiful. There are three degrees or stages of manifested beauty: that of human reason, which is the highest; of the human soul, which is less perfect through its connexion with a material body; and of real objects, which is the lowest manifestation of all. As to the precise forms of beauty, he supposed, in opposition to Aristotle, that a single thing not divisible into parts might be beautiful through its unity and simplicity. He gives a high place to the beauty of colours in which material darkness is overpowered by light and warmth. In reference to artistic beauty he said that when the artist has notions as models for his creations, these may become more beautiful than natural objects. This is clearly a step away from Plato's doctrine towards our modern conception of artistic idealization. 

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In 1942 the Japanese army is thrusting southwards and Australia fears invasion. Bill Parsons becomes concerned, and leaves his homestead in northern Australia along with his wife and two daughters, Mary and Helen. They join up with a cattle drive heading south led by Dan McAlpine. Others on the drive include the shonky Corky; British former sailor, Sinbad; Aboriginal stockmen, Nipper and Jackie. The cattle drive is extremely difficult, encountering crocodiles, blazing heat and other dangers. Mary and Sinbad start a romance. Dan speaks out against Corky's plans to develop the Northern Territory. 

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Generations after the events of Lost Kingdoms, Katia of Argwyll is now remembered as a legendary queen. The heroine of this story is Tara Grimface, a reserved member of a guild of thieves, who is trying to find her way in a dangerous world. While she is an outcast even among her allies, they respect and fear her because she possesses a True Runestone that allows Tara to use powerful magic cards in battle. Tara becomes embroiled in events that will eventually shape the lands around her as she travels with the Band of the Scorpion on a mission to steal the runestones crafted in the caverns of Kendaria. It is here that Tara first happens across the monster responsible for creating these runestones to which she later finds to be the body of the god of harmony. Through the journey Tara undertakes she will eventually find herself on a path to discovering her former self. Although, if she is to uncover the secret of her mysterious origins, she will have to overcome her distrust of others. 

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Glúm's grandfather, Ingjald, was a son of (the Lean), the settler of Eyjafjörður, and farmed at Þverá (later the site of Munkaþverá monastery). Glúmr is the youngest son of his son Eyjólfr, and initially unpromising. After Eyjólfr's death, his second son also dies and soon after that his infant grandson, and the son's wife inherits half the farm; her father, (the Tall), and his son Sigmundr take the half where the house is and start to encroach on the half where Glúmr and his widowed mother Astrid live. Glúmr goes to Norway to visit his maternal grandfather, the chieftain Vigfúss, who warms to him after he defeats a marauding berserker, and presents him with three family heirlooms, a black cloak, a gold-inlaid spear and a sword, saying that he will prosper as long as he keeps them. Meanwhile, Sigmundr has been pressuring Astrid to leave her land, the boundary fence has been moved, and Þorkell and Sigmund have accused two reliable farmhands of Astrid's of slaughtering two of their cattle, and in settlement of a court case about this, deprived her of her right to farm a famously ever- fertile field, Vitazgjafi, which the two halves of the family had been working in alternate years. (The two carcasses are later found trapped under a snowdrift.) When Glúmr returns, he speaks the first of several skaldic verses about the injustice, beats cattle belonging to Þorkell and Sigmund that are loose on his and his mother's land, and laughs uncontrollably, which we are told he was in the habit of doing when the killing mood came on him. He then goes out to Vitazgjafi when Sigmund is mowing hay there, has Sigmund's wife sew him a replacement fastening for his cloak, then kills Sigmund with the spear. That winter, Glúmr sees in a dream Vigfúss' personal spirit,The word hamingja is here used for what is usually called a fylgja - Viga-Glums Saga: With the Tales of Ögmund Bash and Thorvald Chatterbox, tr. John McKinnell, The New Saga Library / UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, Icelandic Series, Edinburgh: Canongate/UNESCO, 1987, , p. 69, note 1. a giant woman, walking towards Þverá; she is so large that her shoulders brush the mountains on each side of the valley. Þórarinn of Espihóll, another powerful chieftain in the area, is both Sigmund's father-in-law and another descendant of Helgi the Lean; he reluctantly brings a case against Glúmr at the next Althing, but Glúmr's arguments and supporters prevail and Þorkell is forced to sell his half of the farm to Glúmr for less than half its value and to leave after six months. Before he goes he offers an ox to Freyr at his temple nearby, which the god accepts. For forty years Glúmr is a powerful man in the district. He marries Halldora and has two sons and a daughter. He arranges the marriages between his cousin Arnórr and Þórgrímr Þórrisson and daughters of the chieftain Gizurr the White. (They were rivals for the same woman; their sons grow up as friends but later become enemies and one kills the other. An itinerant wise woman predicts their enmity.) He punishes his foreman, Ingólfr, for neglect of his duties by framing him for a murder, then clears his name by confessing to it himself, and arranges Ingólfr's marriage to the woman he wanted. However, after Víga-Skúta marries his daughter and then deserts her, Glúmr and he are each able to evade the other by trickery but Glúmr does not achieve revenge; and Glúmr's son Vigfúss' quarrel with Bárðr, which ends with Bárðr being killed by two Norwegian associates of Vigfúss', leads to an irreparable breach between Glúmr and the people of Espihóll. Vigfúss is sentenced to the lesser outlawry, but refuses to leave Iceland within the time specified, and his father shelters him; because the location is sacred to him, this is also an offence against Freyr. In a battle between Glúmr and his allies (including the fugitive Vigfúss, whom his father hails by another name to conceal his presence) and the men of Espihóll and their allies touched off by Þórgrímr's son killing Arnórr's son, Glúmr himself kills Þórarinn's brother Þorvaldr krókr (Hook); however, he persuades Guðbrandr, the twelve-year-old son of Þorvarðr Ǫrnólfsson, who has stirred up matters between the two families, to claim the death. This is the killing that the other side then decide to prosecute; Glúmr succeeds in evading conviction at the regional assembly and at the Althing the case is settled providing he swears an oath in three temples in Eyjafjörður that he did not do it. Glúmr swears an ambiguous oath on the temple ring, first in the local temple of Freyr.The Old Norse "at ek vark at þar, ok vák at þar, ok rauðk at þar odd ok egg" means "that I was at that place, and I struck at that place, and at that place I reddened point and edge" but sounds identical to a poetic usage, "at ek varkat þar, ok vákat þar, ok rauðkat þar odd ok egg", which means "that I was not there, and did not strike there, and there I did not redden point and edge" - McKinnell, pp. 119–20 and note 3. Glúmr has now given away the cloak and spear given to him by his grandfather Vigfúss, and in a dream he sees his dead kin seeking to intercede for him with Freyr, who however remembers Þorkell's ox and is implacable. He is again prosecuted for the killing of Þorvaldr, and under the settlement reached, is required to give half the Þverá farm to Þorvaldr's son in compensation and to sell the other half and leave once the winter is over. He fails in his attempts to trick the new owner's men, and is finally forced to leave after the new owner's mother informs him that she has carried fire around the land, which constitutes formally claiming it. He farms at Möðruvellir in Hörgárdalur, then in Myrkárdalur, where a landslide destroys part of the farm buildings, and finally at Þverbrekka in Öxnadalur. He is humiliated and thwarted in his attempts to act in a dispute which starts over where a whale carcass should be taken for butchering, and becomes blind in his old age. Three years before his death, he is baptised a Christian. His son Már builds a church at Fornhagi in Hörgárdalur, where he and Glúmr are both buried. 

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The magically musical duo of Goopy Gyne and Bagha Byne make a comeback in this sequel, where they are invited to the court of the Hirak Raja (The Diamond King) for their musical skills. They are to perform at the kingdom's Anniversary Celebrations. Goopy and Bagha are bored with their lives as crown princes of Shundi and Halla. They are looking for a change, which comes in the form of a chance to visit Hirak (Land of Diamonds), known for its huge diamond mines. They happily set out for Hirak, unaware of the machinations of the King of Hirak (Utpal Dutt), who is a tyrant. Diamonds and riches get pent up in his treasuries, while his subjects starve and suffer. Those who protest are taken care of in the 'Jantarmantar', a chamber for brainwashing devised by the scientist (Santosh Dutta), who the king mocks calling as "Gobeshok Gobochondro Gyanotirtho Gyanorotno Gyanambudhi Gyanochuramoni." His ministers are mere puppets. The only enemy the king has in his land is Udayan Pandit (Soumitra Chatterjee). He is a school teacher and, more than that, he is a believer of values. The king forcefully closes his school down, and he flees to hide in the mountains. Meanwhile, Goopy and Bagha are on their way to Hirak. By coincidence, they meet Udayan, who informs them of the king's true nature. The two impress Udayan with their magical powers, who makes plans to use them against the tyrant. Goopy and Bagha agree. The duo then head into Hirak, where they are welcomed with grandeur. They entertain the tyrant king, fooling him into believing that they think he is great. They rob the treasury (which was guarded by a tiger) using their magical music, to get diamonds for bribing the guards. The king has his tricks, too. He captures Udayan and all his students, and takes them to the Jantarmantar for brainwashing. But Goopy Bagha have already reached there using their magical powers. They have also bribed the Gobeshok onto their side, with the guards. On reaching the laboratory, the king and his ministers are stunned magically by Goopy's singing and then pushed into the Brainwashing machine. After the king is brainwashed he turns to the good side, he then along with the villagers pull down his own statue situated at the center of the village, and everything goes back to normal in the land of Hirak raja. 

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Soumitra Chatterjee plays Narsingh, a taxi driver. Narsingh is a proud and hot-tempered Rajput with a passion for his car, a vintage 1930 Chrysler and his Rajput heritage. Being a descendant of a royal Rajput family, his self-esteem is reflected through his inability to accept insult and defeat, as a result of which he even takes part in a small race with his car. He does not want to be the one who falls behind and develops a strong hatred for women and mankind in general. As a result of reckless driving, while overtaking the car which carried the district inspector, his licence is taken from him. He is utterly destroyed by it, since the cab was his life after his wife had left him for good. Deeply affected by the insult and a feeling of rootlessness, he decides to go back to the land of rajput where his true rajput lineage will be respected. While on an aimless journey, Narsingh is picked up by Sukharam who is a local Marwari businessman with a record of smuggling and human trafficking. Sukharam (Charuprakash Ghosh) offers him a handsome fee to transport some goods which actually is opium. The realisation of the immoral trade puts Narsingh in a compromising position, but he decides to join hands with Sukharam anyway. After all no one he saw was truly following the path of law and morality, not even his ideal and beloved Neeli (Ruma Guha Thakurta). Neeli runs away with the crippled lover of hers and Narsingh's deep distrust of women deepens. As a result, even after knowing that Gulabi is a victim of Sukharams trafficking he forces her to sleep with him without any emotional involvement. At this point he is almost on the verge of becoming the one he used to hate, the lawless ones who also fail to face the world. Gulabi (Waheeda Rehman), on the other hand is a melancholy, demonstrative and beautiful village widow. Gulabi is instinctively drawn to Narsingh. In spite of losing her dignity, she still looks at the bright side of life and has trust that Narsingh is not immoral. She is attracted to him from the beginning and ready for a physical relationship, though not as a prostitute which Sukharam intended her to be at that time, but as a village girl. After he decides to join the gang of smugglers consisting of a legal deal and selling his car, he finds that all his friends that had been with him for so long, including Rama, and Neeli's brother, have abandoned him. He gets the money and social status he wanted but reduces himself to Mama Bhagne, a symbol of someone carrying the baggage of his own sin on his head, until he topples and is reduced to mere pebbles with no dignity. He changes, and rescues Gulabi just in time, before she was to be sold to the same lawyer who was a member of the smuggling racket he had thought of joining. The tension of the good and evil collapses and the old car makes another journey into nothingness but with a halo of light ahead of it, the light of love. 

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When she turns 18, unhappy Lidda Daniels leaves Southern California to look for Charlie, her father, a professional gambler who abandoned her years before. On her way to Las Vegas, she picks up Colonel, a video store clerk who she finds attractive even though they have never spoken. 

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A vending machine robbery by small-time thief and drug addict Bobbie goes badly awry, and his friends contact street-wise thief and part-time druggie Mel to patch him up. Recognizing a kindred spirit, Mel befriends Bobbie and his girlfriend Rosie, inviting them to join him and his long-suffering girlfriend Sid on a drug robbery which should set them up for life. The seemingly simple robbery is a great success, but the sale of the drugs afterward fails badly, and Mel and Bobbie are shot. The four take refuge with the Reverend, who charges them half of their haul from the robbery to care for them. In a desperate attempt to recover their losses, Mel involves the crew in a disastrous, ill-advised jewelry robbery. Bobbie and Rosie have an argument before Bobbie leaves. After the robbery fails, he returns to find Rosie has committed suicide via heroin. Bobbie explodes at Mel and blames him for everything. When they stop somewhere for Bobbie to use the bathroom Mel tells Sid about his plans to kill Bobbie. When asked to buy a shovel she informs Bobbie of Mel’s plan and gives him some money. He runs away, through a cornfield as Mel and Sid drive off, finally free. 

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In a small town of rolling fields and endless skies, isolated 16-year-old Mason Mullich lives in a world where families exist in fragmented silence and love seems to have gone missing. Mason lives with his mother, father and mentally ill uncle. Mason's father is a local politician running for office and is stern, and somewhat abusive towards his family, while his mother is submissive and dutiful, albeit unstable. While resting in the grass one day Mason is approached by Danny, a sensitive and troubled girl. They strike up a tender friendship and begin to spend more time together. This bond is torn apart when Mason's father kills a man whilst driving and Mason is blamed for the crime. He is sent to prison for two years and upon getting out sees that Danny is now in a relationship. While they are both still attracted to each other, threats from Danny's possessive boyfriend and Danny's own perception of what she deserves pose a conflict. Through time, they are able to overcome these conflicts and begin some semblance of a relationship. Though Mason's home life is even more unstable and unhappy than before, he find solace in Danny. Eventually on one of their walks they become intimate, solidifying their relationship. Later Mason, Danny and a friend go in a field to drink and have fun. Mason's friend brings narcotics and Danny decides to get high. Later that night she goes into the pond and kills herself. Mason, devastated, is framed for supplying the drugs. In a poignant ending, he makes bail, then escapes by jumping on a freight train. 

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Roseanne (Monica Keena) is outwardly a perfect and popular teen, who suffers from a dysfunctional home life. Her mother (Ellen Barkin) begins an affair with a local man (Jeffrey Wright) and leaves her to live alone with her alcoholic stepfather (Michael Ironside). One night during an alcohol-fueled rage, he rapes Roseanne. Traumatized, she decides to take things into her own hands. With the participation of her devoted and clueless boyfriend Jimmy (James DeBello) the twosome murder her stepfather in retribution, but Roseanne's conscience quickly begins to unravel afterwards. The story is narrated by one of Roseanne's classmates, Vincent (Vincent Kartheiser), a boy who is as concerned with Roseanne's well-being as he is obsessed with her. As the plot develops he forges a relationship with her, consoling her and giving her advice while trying to point her toward redemption. In the end it becomes possible that he will be her only salvation. 

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Jake Barnes (Dirk Benedict) is flying a plane over the Alaskan wilderness. While he is flying, he is communicating with a man named Charlie (Ben Cardinal), who works for Quincy Air Service. A polar bear cub and its mother are then shown playing in the snow, not knowing that they are being watched by a pair of poachers, Colin Perry (Charlton Heston) and Mr. Koontz (Duncan Fraser), and the adult bear is then shot, leaving the cub orphaned. Jessie Barnes (Thora Birch) and her friend Chip (Ryan Kent) are observing wildlife in their kayaks before her dinner. Jessie's father Jake begins telling her where he is flying from, at what time he left that location, and his air speed. Jessie calculates that her father is passing Devils Thumb. Jake then lands his plane on a lake, where Charlie is waiting to tie the plane up to the dock. His son, Sean (Vincent Kartheiser) scolds his father for moving their family to Alaska after their mother's death. As Jake is making an emergency run, his plane's engines stall, causing him to lose control and crash in the Alaska wilderness. Frustrated by the lack of search effort by the police, Sean and Jessie go out to find their father on their own. As they kayak through the chilly waters of the Gulf of Alaska, they stop to rest on a beach. They soon realize that the shore is home to a poachers' camp. They then discover the skin of a polar bear and the young polar bear from earlier, that has been locked in a cage. They let the polar bear run free, hoping that it will save itself. After the bear leaves their camp, Colin Perry appears, in hunt of the polar bear that he believes is rightfully his property as he intends to sell the cub to a client in Hong Kong. Koontz then arrives and notices teeth marks on the frying pan, alerting Perry that the bear was there. Colin's beliefs that the children stole the bear from his camp are confirmed when he finds his missing lighter next to their camping gear. Perry orders the kids to tell the bear to "come home" (Perry is referring to the cage at his camp as the bear's home). The next day, Jessie and Sean continue in their search to find their missing father. They leave their kayak and begin searching on foot. They soon discover that the polar bear has once again followed them on their journey. Perry and Koontz, too, have followed the youngsters, and this time, they destroy the oars in their kayak and hide the kayak in the woods just in case someone comes looking for them. Just then, Charlie arrives in a helicopter in search of Jessie and Sean. Perry shows Charlie a piece of the oar and tells him that he found it 25 miles north of their current position. Charlie then departs in his helicopter in hopes of finding the children, who he believes to be in grave danger and eventually discovers the two men were actually poachers after finding their campsite. Jessie safely reaches the bottom, but Sean slips and tumbles down the mountain, hitting his head on a rock. The two then continue their journey and find a log cabin in the woods. They take shelter and Sean lies down in the bed. While in the cabin, Sean notices a canoe hanging from the ceiling. Jessie and Sean take the canoe and continue on in their search for their father. While they are canoeing down a river, the two kids encounter vicious rapids that send them and their canoe down a waterfall. Jessie is able to escape the raging river but once again, Sean's lack of experience in the wilderness causes him to struggle. He is thrust down the river where he is helped out of the cold water by Jessie's friend Chip and his grandfather Ben (Gordon Tootoosis). As the kids recover by the riverside, Chip's father (Byron Chief- Moon) wants to send Jessie and Sean home, but Ben and Chip wish to help the two on their journey. The two proceed on their quest with their befriended polar bear, whom they named Cubby, by their side. Cubby leads them until he is shot with a tranquilizer dart by Colin. He then takes Cubby away in his helicopter, but Koontz didn't load the darts with enough tranquilizer fluids, allowing Cubby to awaken in the helicopter and trying to fight his way free. As Koontz lowers the helicopter, Cubby escapes and bites Perry's right knee, causing Perry to shoot Koontz with a tranquilizer dart and damage the helicopter as well. Meanwhile, the children continue on in their search for their missing father. They stumble upon some wreckage from his plane crash and begin yelling for him to respond. Not able to yell, their father shoots another flare into the air. This time the children see it and run to his rescue. They find the plane hanging on the edge of a cliff, and Jessie lowers Sean down the side of the mountain to reach their father. Just as it looks like Jessie is going to lose control of the rope, Cubby appears and helps Jessie pull the rope. With Cubby's help, Jessie and Sean are able to raise their father up the side of the mountain. Just as the family is reunited, Charlie shows up in his helicopter to take them home and complete the rescue. Perry and Koontz are then shown to be trekking from their now disabled helicopter after their skirmish with Cubby, and Cubby is then introduced to a new polar bear family after saying good-bye to Sean and Jessie. 

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Teacher John Corntel asks his former Eton schoolmate Lynley for help when the 13 year old schoolboy Matthew Whateley has disappeared. Initially Lynley refuses, until Deborah St James finds the naked body of the boy in a churchyard in Stoke Poges. Lynley and Havers start their investigation at Matthew's school Bredgar Chambers, an elite boarding school in West Sussex. They find a letter from Matthew to Jeannie Bonnamy, a daughter of Colonel Bonnamy. Matthew has visited them three days before his death to dine and play chess with the colonel. When Jeannie brought Matthew back to school, they saw 6th form student Chas Quilter in a school minibus, returning from a visit to Cecilia Feld, a girl in Stoke Poges. Chas didn't want anyone to find out about his relationship with Cecilia, and the fact that he was the father of Cecilia's child, which has Apert syndrome. Cecilia herself was transferred from Bredgar Chambers to another school when she was pregnant. Chemistry teacher Emilia Bond tried to burn child pornography photos that belonged to John Corntel; she was in love with Corntel, but found out he was collecting those photos. This explains why Corntel didn't patrol in spite of being duty master. That same evening 6th grader Clive Pritchard nabbed Matthew Whateley to torture him, because Matthew had made a tape recording of Clive bullying schoolboy Harry Morant. When Clive found Matthew dead he felt responsible, unaware that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning. During the investigation there's an attempt to kill Jeannie Bonnamy with a rake. Chas Quilter hangs himself. The investigators find out that Matthew's biological parents were Mrs Pamela Byrne and Edward Hsu, a Chinese former pupil at Bredgar Hall who killed himself after this scandal. Giles Byrne felt financially responsible for the child of his late wife. As a board member he obtained a scholarship for Matthew at Bredgar Chambers. Giles' 18-year-old son Brian turns out to be the culprit. He killed his half-brother in the fume cupboard in the chemistry lab. He then transported the body to Stoke Poges in the school minibus Chas Quilter was driving. His motive was to win Chas Quilter's lifetime loyalty. Brian also tried to kill Jeannie Bonnamy for the same reason. Brian Byrne and Clive Pritchard are arrested. In a subplot Barbara Havers visits her demented mother, and finds her father dead. Another theme is Lynley's aristocratic descent (he is sometimes referred to as "Lord Asherton")--shown through his working relationship with his working class colleague Barbara Havers from Acton and his unrequited love for Lady Helen Clyde. 

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In the first issue of this story (which was part of a two-issue framework for the project), the Vigilante gathers together a new Spider (called "I, Spyder" and apparently the son of the original), Gimmix (the estranged daughter of Merry, the Girl of a Thousand Gimmicks), a new Boy Blue, Dyno-Mite Dan (owner of two "working fakes" imitations of the explosive rings of T.N.T. and Dan the Dyna-Mite), and the Whip (granddaughter of the Golden Age Whip). The team sets out to battle the Buffalo Spider (later on, the Sheeda are betrayed by Spyder in Seven Soldiers of Victory #1 in another nod to the original), only to be killed during an event known as the Harrowing. The seven miniseries follow seven other characters with indirect connections to the first group, each with their own art styles, genres, and character arcs. A central part of Morrison's idea for the current series is that, although the seven characters in question are each a part of the same struggle, they never actually meet (although there are references to each other in the various titles). Thus, the team is actually not a team. An explanation for this is presented in Manhattan Guardian and Zatanna. In the first, a man named Ed Starsgard (Baby Brain) tells Guardian that the Sheeda have been attacking humanity in periodic waves, taking everything of value (physical and mental) and leaving behind just enough for the survivors to rebuild for next time. It is prophesied that the Sheeda will eventually be stopped by seven soldiers, so they target teams of seven, including the Ultramarine Corps and the Justice League of America (JLA: Classified #1–3). However, because the Seven Soldiers have never met, they stand a chance of doing the job. In Zatanna, a ghost remarks that there are too many coincidences in the story and it feels like there is a "mystery string tying it all together". It eventually emerges that the Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp are driving the Seven Soldiers to stop the Sheeda. In an interview, Grant remarked that this series of stories (which he calls a "megaseries", also known as a metaseries), takes place after Infinite Crisis. Dan DiDio has stated that, after careful consultation with Morrison, the series is now considered to take place a week before Infinite Crisis. The comic Seven Soldiers of Victory #1 was originally scheduled for release on April 1, 2006, but was delayed and eventually released on October 25, 2006. 

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This Canadian World War I narrative begins in Montreal, where an unnamed young soldier is among Canadian troops of a variety of ages preparing to deploy to France and the war. The story follows the soldiers into the Western Front trench lines where they begin to experience the war of attrition being fought there. While he once thought of war as glorious, the narrator faces the reality of hard combat and his friends begin to die. Later, the narrator finds himself deeply disturbed when he bayonets a German soldier during a raid; this trauma is magnified by the narrator's subsequent camaraderie with the brother of the soldier he killed when together they endure shelling. The narrator becomes further affected by the death of another friend; it is at this point he begins to become exhausted by the horrors of war. He goes on his leave to England, a 10-day period during which a prostitute does everything in her power to help him forget the war. However, everyday incidents –- such as a burlesque show that marginalizes the cost of war by adapting the imagery of war for public amusement –- remind the anonymous soldier of the separation between the "home front" and the trenches. Upon his return to the trenches, the Canadians suffer heavy losses in a trench raid; at this point, Broadbent is the lone survivor of the narrator's friends. To motivate the troops for an offensive, a senior officer tells the troops of the Germans sinking a hospital ship; during this bloody confrontation, the narrator receives a wound, and Broadbent dies after his leg is nearly severed from his body. The narrator's wound takes him out of action, although the war continues. At this point, the soldiers learn that the ship sunk by the Germans was, in fact, carrying weapons. The illumination of the truth brings with it the realization that war is a game of strategy fought between generals, and soldiers are the ones who suffer. 

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Starship Operators is about the 73rd class of the Defense University of the Planet Kibi. As they are returning home after the maiden voyage of the , they find that their home planet, Kibi, has been taken over by one of the Henrietta region's super powers, Henrietta Alliance of Planetary Nations. The original command crew all abandon ship, as per the conquerors' demands. Left alone on the ship, the cadets decide to keep their command and fight on. To this end, they have decided to ask Galaxy Network to fund the operation of Amaterasu as a fleeing self-governed nation in exchange for letting them broadcast the ship's adventures live - as a reality TV program. The novel's storyline also features Amaterasu finding its way through space to reach the control zone of another super power, the Henrietta Independent Federation, for protection. 

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In 19th century London, an orphaned boy named Peter and fellow orphans James, Thomas, Prentiss, and Tubby Ted are shipped out on the decrepit Never Land, under the command of First Mate Slank and the extremely incompetent Captain Cyrus Pembridge. A mysterious trunk, identical to another that had been escorted by the Royal Guard onto Her Majesty's Wasp, another ship in harbor. Meanwhile, feared pirate Black Stache, captain of the Sea Devil hears of the trunk on the Wasp containing the greatest treasure of all time, and plots to capture it. While the Sea Devil dumps much of its weight and water in order to lighten the ship enough to run down The Wasp, Peter and the orphans attempt to adapt to their measly hold and Peter meets Molly Aster, a mysterious passenger of his own age. While scavenging for food one night, Peter finds himself in the hold where the trunk is guarded and is acquainted with a flying rat. Molly rescues him from crew members on their way to check out the commotion caused, and stories of the flying rat begin to travel through the ship, prompting Peter and Alf, a member of the crew, to wonder about the hold's contents. The Sea Devil manages to run down and board The Wasp, and Leonard Aster, Molly's father and a safekeeper of the trunk, fruitlessly attempts and fails to escape with the trunk in question. As The Wasp's crew is forced to surrender, Black Stache opens the trunk only to find sand, and both himself and Aster realize that a switch had been made at port and the actual treasure is on the Never Land. Aster jumps overboard and escapes with dolphin allies of his, who send a dolphin, Ammm, to relay to Molly that Black Stache was on his way. Molly later stops Peter and Alf from carrying out a plan to discover the contents of the trunk, and confides to Peter about the contents of the trunk; Starstuff, dust of extraordinary power that had fallen from the heavens, which had temporarily made the rat fly. Molly's family is revealed to be members of a secret society known as the Starcatchers, who located the Starstuff when it fell from the heavens and kept it out of the wrong hands. The contents of this particular trunk were the result of the largest fall in history, which had been located by a rival group, the Others, before the Starcatchers could acquire it. Molly enlists Peter to assist in throwing the trunk overboard before Black Stache arrived. Black Stache and his men rechristen the Wasp as the Jolly Roger and race against a monster storm to intercept the Never Land and acquire the treasure. Attempting to dispose of the trunk with Molly, Peter is thrown overboard by Slank right before Black Stache and his men arrive and locate the trunk on the dock just as the storm hits. Having come into contact with Starstuff from the trunk, Peter manages to fly back and hurl the trunk overboard, prompting Black Stache to quickly leave and take Slank, sailor Little Richard, and Molly's governess prisoner. Molly jumps overboard to rescue Peter as his Starstuff wears off as Alf and the orphans escape the Never Land as the storm and nearby reef obliterate it. Both parties and the trunk wash up on a nearby island, with the Jolly Roger close behind. Alf, James, Prentiss, Thomas, Tubby Ted, and Peter are soon captured by the local natives, while Black Stache and a large posse search the island for the trunk, leaving the ship virtually unguarded while Slank and Little Richard break out of the Jolly Roger, subdue the remaining pirates, and search for the trunk. The natives, known as the Mollusks and led by Fighting Prawn, decide to feed the group to Mister Grin, an abnormally large crocodile who is kept captive in an enclosure, as it is their policy when dealing with foreigners. Molly enters and rescues them with some reserve starstuff, enabling the group and Mister Grin to fly out of the enclosure and cause mass panic among the Mollusks and pirate posse. The trunk is eventually found by Slank and Little Richard, who battle Mermaids (lagoon fish who came into contact with starstuff from the leaky trunk), trick the pirates, and knock Peter out, who is shortly rescued by the mermaids for healing one of their own from a wound inflicted by Slank. With help from Ammm, the group assaults Slank and Little Richard and nearly succeeds in overpowering the both of them before Slank restrains Molly and reveals that he is in league with the Others, who were rivals of the Starcatchers and wanted the Starstuff for their own purposes. He confirms that a switch had been made in port and that the trunk of Starstuff was originally intended for the Wasp, and that both ships had been headed to Rundoon, where the starstuff was to be delivered to the corrupt King Zarboff III and the boys as palace servants. He and Little Richard take Molly hostage on their longboat in order to escape with the trunk, but Peter rescues Molly and is later revealed to have earlier physically lifted the box of Starstuff out of the trunk, and they leave Slank and Little Richard to drift out to sea. Aster and a group of Starcatchers soon arrive on the Island, accompanied by ships of the British Navy, and Aster deduces that Peter should have died when lifting the box of Starstuff, but had an extraordinarily high tolerance to Starstuff and instantly stopped aging forever while retaining the permanent ability to fly. The Mollusks and the pirates converge on the group, and a fight ensures, whereas Fighting Prawn is mortally wounded and Peter manages to sever Black Stache's hand, which is eaten by Mister Grin. As the pirates flee to another part of the island, Peter uses the starstuff in Aster's locket to save Fighting Prawn, who spares the group, allows Molly, Aster, Alf, and the Starcatchers to leave the island with the now-secured box of Starstuff, and lets Peter, James, Thomas, Prentiss, and Tubby Ted to stay on the island, as Peter feels that he wouldn't be able to fit in with society. As he and Molly bid farewell to one another, Aster uses starstuff a local bird into a fairly, Tinker Bell, to watch over Peter. Peter promises to come to London in the near future to visit, and he and the boys begin to settle on the island. The story ends with Peter discovering a washed- up plank with the printed name of the Never Land, which he decides to nickname the island (although the sequels still refer to it by its given name, Mollusk Island) 

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His mind occupied with thoughts of his coming regeneration, the TARDIS accidentally returns the Doctor to Gallifrey and the House of Lungbarrow, where for over 673 years his 44 cousins have been trapped, but mysteriously only six of them are still left. Meanwhile, Chris Cwej is having strange dreams of the past, when the family cast the Doctor out. The Doctor is accused of the murder of the head of the House, but finds many allies in the form of former companions Ace, Romana, K-9 Mark I, K-9 Mark II and Leela, who have become embroiled in a Celestial Intervention Agency plot to overthrow Romana's presidency. The secrets of the past are catching up to the Doctor, in particular the secret linking him to a figure from Gallifreyan history known only as the Other. 

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George (Gene Wilder), a former mental patient and pathological liar, is released from the hospital. He is quickly, purposefully mistaken for millionaire brewery heir Abe Fielding by a troupe of actors hired by Rupert Dibbs (Stephen Lang), an unscrupulous business manager. Rupert needs George to believe he is Fielding in order to kill him off and inherit the Fielding Brewery and family fortune. Eddie Dash (Richard Pryor), a con man, tenuously befriends George due to a community service assignment. He attempts at first to capitalize on George's mistaken identity, but after being pressured by Rupert into killing George for profit, turns the tables on Rupert and helps George fake his death, only to come back to the land of the living and inheriting both the brewery and the Fielding fortune instead. Along the way, Eddie and George turn two of Rupert's female associates into allies and partners, while getting themselves into plenty of comical chaos. 

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"Monster World was once a peaceful region. Then, the peace was shattered by an invading army of monsters. A young man named Shion vowed to defeat them and make his land peaceful again." 

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Jill Banford and Ellen March are a couple who struggle to support themselves by raising chickens on an isolated farm in rural Canada. Dependent Jill tends to household chores and finances while the self-sufficient Ellen deals with heavier work, such as chopping wood, repairing fences, and stalking the fox that keeps raiding their coops, although she is hesitant about killing it. Jill seems content with their secluded existence, but the frustrated Ellen is less enchanted by the solitude. In the dead of winter, merchant seaman Paul Grenfel arrives in search of his grandfather, the now-deceased former owner of the farm who died one year earlier. With nowhere else to go while on leave, he persuades the women to allow him to stay with them for a few weeks in exchange for helping with the work. Tension among the three slowly escalates when his attentions to Ellen arouse Jill's resentment and jealousy. When he proposes marriage to Ellen, Jill is first outraged, then hysterically fearful, even trying to bribe Paul to leave. Eventually Paul tracks and kills the fox. Just before his departure, he makes love to Ellen and asks her to elope with him, but she confesses she would feel guilty if she abandoned Jill. After Paul returns to his ship, Jill confesses her feelings for Ellen, and the two women make love. Ellen writes to Paul, explaining that her place is with Jill and that she cannot marry him. Several weeks later, Paul returns unexpectedly as the two women are chopping down a dying oak. He offers to complete the job and warns Jill to move away from the tree's potential path. In a standoff of wills, Jill refuses to move as Paul continues to chop at the tree. The falling tree crushes Jill, and she dies. As spring begins, Ellen sells the farm, and she and Paul set off to start a new life together. Knowing that she is silently mourning the loss of Jill, Paul assures Ellen that she will be happy in her new life. Sadly and uncertainly, she asks, "Will I?" 

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Maricruz (Adela Noriega) and Beatriz (Thalía) are classmates and best friends. Maricruz is from a working-class family, while Beatriz's is very wealthy. They are both 14 and excited about their quinceañera parties and becoming women. Mechanic's apprentice Pancho (Ernesto Laguardia) and gang tough Memo (Sebastián Ligarde) are attracted to Maricruz. Maricruz is immediately disgusted by Memo and eventually accepts Pancho's love. Memo attacks Maricruz; she faints before he can rape her, but he lets her believe he did rape her. She feels violated, defiled, and unworthy of Pancho and believes he won't want her now. At the same time, Maricruz's brother Gerardo (Rafael Rojas) starts dating Beatriz when their mother pressures her children to raise their social class. When Beatriz becomes pregnant, her family supports her after their initial horror. Both girls realize that the passage to womanhood was not what they expected. 

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